


A Sky Full of Stars

by msalexiscriss



Category: Glee
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Explicit Language, Friendship, M/M, One Night Stands, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Romance, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 13:11:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 58,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4306395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msalexiscriss/pseuds/msalexiscriss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Klaine AU. Blaine is a wealthy and successful businessman, and Kurt is an artist, both established in New York City. They meet under very unexpected circumstances and are forced to live their lives together for a few months. During that time, they discover that despite being completely different they are quite compatible and realize that sometimes life gives you what you were not looking for, but certainly needing...love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaine wakes up and finds a very handsome boy naked in his bed. _Who is this guy? And what happened the night before?_ He doesn't know, but he is not surprised either, men come and go from his bed every day. What he is not expecting is what he will discover a few minutes later... _How did that happen? When? What is he going to do?_ Only time will tell...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this story 1 year ago using my FF account (same pen name), one of my friends convinced me to move it here. Hope you guys like it!!!
> 
> This is a story about an unexpected love between a young businessman and a handsome and sweet artist. Their paths intersect during a crazy night and they have to deal with the consequences of their actions for quite a while. This is an AU, so in this version Blaine is a wealthy businessman set in New York, and Kurt is a talented artist working for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You'll discover some things about their personal stories, friendships, relationships and other stuff throughout the chapters. There are mentions of the death of certain characters prior to the timeline of this story, so you've been warned.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Kurt, Blaine or any of the characters mentioned in this story. The NYC law stuff available on this story is not entirely true, I adapted some actual rules to fit the plot of the story.

Blaine opened his eyes. The room was already full of light, so he blinked repeatedly to let his eyes get accustomed to the brightness. His eyes burned and his head ached badly. He had forgotten to close the blinds the night before and in fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember anything about the events of the night before. The last thing he remembered was being drinking uncontrollably at his best friend's friend's party, and that was it—his mind was empty from there.

"God! I swear to never drink like that ever again! My head is killing me!" He mumbled to himself in the stillness of his room.  
  
"Hmmm..." A different voice mumbled back from under the covers.

Blaine jumped in surprise. He wasn't aware that there was someone else in the room. He peeked under the covers and discovered a stunning and handsome young man sleeping peacefully next to him. He was naked, and by his looks Blaine could tell that this guy was gorgeous. His skin was pale, ghostly-like pale, and his face was angular and very symmetrical, like that of an angel.

Blaine smiled proudly of himself, he knew he had good taste in men, but this time he had exceeded the expectations—this guy was beyond handsome. This guy was extremely hot.

"Hey, hey!" Blaine said, shaking the guy and trying to wake him up.

"Hmmm..." The guy mumbled again.

"Come on, sleepy head! It's late! It's time to get up!"

"Hmmm…where am I?" The boy mumbled, opening his eyes for the first time.

Blaine looked at him and smiled again. This boy had the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had ever seen and was, in fact, very, very handsome.

"In my house." Blaine replied simply.

"Hmmm..."

"What's your name?" Blaine asked.

It was the less classy thing to ask after a one-night stand, but he really didn't know who this guy was and he was dying to know. However, the guy didn't reply—he was fully asleep again.  
  
"Hey! Wake up!" Blaine tried again, but the guy just moaned again and rolled over his sleep.

Blaine shrugged and stood up, looking around and scanning the room. It was a mess. There was a bottle of scotch on the floor, some ripped condom packages, and clothes all over the place. He knew he must have had a very fun and wild night with this guy, but he couldn't remember anything about it. He sat on the edge of the bed and put his hands on his face to hide his mischievous smile.

"What the-" He suddenly exclaimed.

In his left hand, right on «that» finger, he was wearing a ring. He looked at it closely. It looked like a wedding band, but he couldn't recall getting married, so he tried to calm himself down thinking that the ring was without a doubt some kind of joke pulled off by his best friend Sam. He knew he couldn't be married, but the ring looked real enough, so he took it off and his jaw dropped. The ring didn't just look real, it was real. Made of white gold with two letters engraved on it, a B and a K.

"Hey! You! Wake up! What's your name?” Blaine asked, shaking the guy with desperation. It wasn't time for sleep, it was time for explanations.  
  
"Hmm…."  
  
"What's your name?" He asked again.  
  
"Kurt…" The guy whispered.

"Damn! K! Fuck!"

"What is it?" Kurt asked, still sleepy.

"Show me your left hand!" Blaine demanded, not really knowing what else to do.

Kurt pulled his hand from under the covers and gasped in surprise. He was wearing a ring too—the same ring Blaine had in his hands.

"What's this?" Kurt asked out loud. His mind was still clouded with sleepiness.

"That's exactly what I want you to tell me! What the fuck is this?" Blaine said, pointing to the ring in Kurt's hand.

"Well, it looks like a wedding ring." Kurt replied, still disoriented.

"Yeah, I can see that." Blaine said with sarcasm.

"Okay, don't worry! I'm not married. Perhaps one of my friends gave me this last night and I just wore it in this hand, but don't worry, I'm single."  
  
"Shut up! Look! I have an identical ring!" Blaine exclaimed, showing him the other ring.  
  
Kurt's eyes widened. He sat up in one motion and took off the ring. His ring had the B and the K engraved too.  
  
"What the heck did we do last night?" Kurt exclaimed, trying to recall the events of the night before, but his mind was still confused.  
  
"I don't have a fucking clue, I can't remember anything!" Blaine said.

"We can't be married! Don't worry, maybe this is a joke or something." Kurt said, trying to calm himself down too.  
  
"Maybe…" Blaine answered, but a paper lying on the floor distracted him. He picked it up and gasped in horror. "Dammit!"  
  
"What?" Kurt asked.  
  
"It's a marriage certificate!"  
  
"What!?" Kurt asked, fully awake this time.

Blaine didn't respond, he was in shock. His body was paralyzed as his eyes kept scanning the piece of paper.

"It can't be! You can't marry in one day…that's impossible!" Kurt said, matter of factly. He didn’t know much about laws and marriages, but he was almost certain it was impossible to get married in one day. _New York City wasn’t Las Vegas for goodness sake!_

"Well, then explain to me what the hell is this!" Blaine said, throwing the paper on top of the bed and waiting for Kurt to pick it up and read it, as if the guy could somehow read something different.

Kurt picked it up and started reading it. His eyes were wide open and Blaine was looking at him intently.  
  
"Well, it looks like a legit marriage certificate, but it can't be. I know you must wait at least 24 hours to get a marriage license."  
  
"I'll call a lawyer…we need to know if this thing is actually true." Blaine said, standing up from the bed.

"Good idea-" Kurt said, almost choking on his own words. When Blaine stood up, Kurt couldn't help but notice that the man was completely naked—like him. So, pulling the blankets to cover his nakedness, Kurt looked away completely flushed while the other man looked for his phone in the jumble of clothes scattered on the floor.

"You can look...I don't mind."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt were sitting on the couch in the impressive living room, listening to the lawyer Blaine had called. They both were speechless.  
  
"I'm afraid that this is real, Blaine. I know you two are confused, but it all seems legit. Apparently you obtained a Judicial Waiver and that's why you could get married the same day." The lawyer explained.  
  
"But...how? I can't remember anything!" Blaine exclaimed, exasperated. He had lost all his patience. He couldn’t be married, that was impossible.

"Well, according to this, you brought an official marriage officiant to your friend's house and he made the ceremony there, so this is legal, Blaine. You two are legally married." The lawyer said.

"Fuck! This is wrong! It can't be true! Please, Larry! Do something! Can you help us get a divorce?" Blaine practically begged.

Larry, the lawyer, looked at both of them. Kurt was silent and his head was down—he was thinking. Blaine, however, was looking at him directly in the eyes—he was expecting an answer.

"Well, I'm afraid that what you're asking for is going to be a little bit more difficult, Blaine. Although New York City is under the equitable distribution law, there are some flaws here and there about marriage. In order for you two to have a quick and easy divorce we need to establish some things first. For starters we need to determine the ground for divorce."

"What's that?" Blaine asked confused.

"Well, we need to determine the cause for the divorce, you see? In New York City the grounds are, cruel and inhuman treatment, abandonment, confinement of one of the parties, adultery, living separate and/or apart due to legal reasons and irretrievable breakdown."

"The only one that fits in here is the last one."

"Exactly, you two can divorce using the irretrievable breakdown argument."

"Well, then let's do that!" Blaine said relieved. Apparently there was a solution for this mess after all.

"Blaine? I know you know nothing about law, but I'm afraid that that's not going to be that easy, son." The lawyer said.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because for that ground to be valid you must be married at least six months."

"What!?" Blaine asked again in shock, and Kurt looked up equally stunned.

"That's the law, Blaine. In order for me to start processing your divorce under those grounds you two must be married at least six months, and there must be some sort of record of you two living together, so the judge can give us the divorce with no problems."

"Are you suggesting that we must live together for six months? I don't even know him! He's a complete stranger! He can be a sociopath or worse a serial killer!" Blaine said, being a complete moron.

"Well, that's the best solution, Blaine. You two can live together and pretend to be husbands for that time and get the divorce quickly, or..." the lawyer said, taking a deep breath, "you can start a trial to get the divorce and it can take years and a lot of money."

"I don't have any money." Kurt finally said.

"Money is not the problem." Blaine added, despising Kurt's argument.

"Well, it is indeed." The lawyer interfered.

"Why?" Blaine asked.

"Well, first because each of you will need a separate lawyer to take care of the whole paperwork needed for the trial and this thing can take us at least one year, and due to the time, your now husband can ask for an economical compensation."

"But he wouldn't do that, right?" Blaine asked, looking at Kurt.

Kurt was silent. He was hurt and felt used and despised. He was a good man, but Blaine's jerk attitude was getting the worst out of him.

"Well, you don't know me, right? Who knows what I can do in one year. Maybe I can kill you to inherit all your money because apparently you have a lot." He said, sarcastically pointing to the very luxurious apartment.

Blaine looked at him with shock.

The lawyer cleared his throat. "There's no need to go that far, boys, look…I think you two can be reasonable and wait the time required to get the divorce in a peaceful way. There's no need to fight or anything."

"But we don't know each other, Larry! I can't live with a complete stranger! Who knows what trickery he may have up his sleeve!" Blaine exclaimed.

"Well, you slept with me…surely you were able to see far beyond my sleeve, right?" Kurt replied in self-defense.

Kurt agreed with Blaine that they were two complete strangers who barely knew each other's names, but he didn't like the idea of being treated like a gold digger and used merely as a sex toy, he was better than that. His father would say that he mattered.

"Yeah, I slept with you, but it was just sex!” Blaine exploded. “God! I do that every fucking weekend! Men come and go from my bed everyday! But I've never lived with any of them, let alone married them! I just like to have sex! That's all! I never asked for any of this!" Blaine said.

"You're an asshole!" Kurt yelled, tired of Blaine's attitude.

"Hey, hey, calm down guys!" The lawyer said, raising his hands to calm the boys. "I know this is hard for both of you, but try to think this clearly and you'll see that the best way to get rid of this mess is by doing it in a peaceful way."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "How much does he can claim if we decide to go for the trial?"

"Well, if his lawyer is skilled 50%." The lawyer informed them.

"50%!" Blaine repeated, yelling the percentage. It was a lot.

"Yes, but I believe Kurt is a nice guy and he'll accept the deal to wait the six statutory months and live with you pretending to be your husband so you two can divorce quickly."

Blaine turned his face and looked at Kurt intently. Kurt was deep in thought, he was debating what to do. Clearly when he had opened his eyes that morning he had never expected any of this.

"What do you say, Kurt? Do you agree to wait for six months?" The lawyer asked.

Kurt breathed deeply and despite his anger against Blaine, he tried to be nice.

"Only if he agrees." Kurt said.

"What do you say, Blaine? Do you agree?" The lawyer asked.

"Do I have any other option?" Blaine said as a response.

"I'm afraid not." The lawyer whispered. "Okay, having reached a mutual agreement I think I better go. I need to start shielding the company's finances, so any of this affects it. See you two in six months to sign the divorce paperwork…bye, guys! Play nice and try to enjoy this time together. I know you don't know each other, but at least try to become friends. After all, you're going to be living together for half a year.” The lawyer said, walking to the elevator door. “See you on Monday, Blaine!" He exclaimed, before walking away and leaving the two newlyweds alone.

Blaine and Kurt rolled their eyes at the same time. This was a nightmare for both of them and apparently, it was just getting started.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was at Sam's apartment and his friend was looking at him with shock evident on his face.

"Come again?" He asked.

"I'm married!" Blaine yelled, showing him the ring.

"How? When?" Sam asked confused. He was still hungover and was finding it very difficult to follow his friend's conversation.

"Yesterday, at your friend's party!"

"Are you sure this is not a joke or something?" Sam asked, looking intently at the ring.

"Well, Larry says it's legal and quite frankly I'm surprised you don't remember being there because you were one of the fucking witnesses!" Blaine exclaimed.

"I was?" Sam asked confused.

"Yes, you idiot! Why didn't you stop me? You're my best friend! You're supposed to have my back! Why did you allow this insanity!?"

"Sorry bud, but I don't remember anything. How was I supposed to stop you if I don't even remember being there in the first place?"

"I hate you and your stupid parties!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

Instead of replying Sam just started laughing loudly.

"Why are you laughing like an idiot? This thing is your fault in the first place, you took me to that fucking party!"

"Yeah, the party was my idea, but the drinking without any control was your idea!” Sam said, still laughing hysterically.

"Screw you!" Blaine said, flashing his middle finger.

Sam laughed again. He was enjoying the moment greatly.

"I can't believe that you, of all men, are a married man! Congrats, buddy! I'm glad you have finally decided to settle down for good! Way to go!"

"I fucking hate you!" Blaine said, really questioning himself why he considered the idiot standing before him like a brother.

Sam laughed again and mocking Blaine, asked. "Is he cute?"

"Shut up!" Blaine said exasperated.

"Okay, okay sorry. And...what are you going to do? You're going to divorce, aren't you?"

"Well, yes! But I have to wait six months for that!"

"Six months? Why?" Sam asked intrigued.

"Because apparently you can marry in one day, but you can't divorce in the same period of time!" Blaine exclaimed already exhausted by the situation.

"Damn! You're going to be married for six months?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Yes! And we need to have proof that we're _'a couple,'_ so the judge can give us the divorce quickly."

Sam started laughing uncontrollably again. Actually, he was crying with laughter. He knew this was the worst thing that could have ever happened to his friend. _Or not?_

"Can you just shut the fuck up? This isn't funny!" Blaine said, hitting Sam in the head.

"Sorry bud, but in fact, it is very funny! You, Blaine Casanova-I'm-never-getting-married Anderson, are a married man! This is huge news! Where are you two lovebirds going to live?"

"Shut up! In my place of course! He lives with two friends in a small loft in Bushwick for God's sake!"

"Oh, God! This is going to be so funny to witness! What's his name?"

"Kurt something…I really can't remember."

"Was he a guest or a plus one at the party?"

"I think he was a plus one…I'm not sure, we haven't talked that much."

"Where is he now?"

"He went to his house to get his stuff."

"Can I meet him?"

"Yes, of course! In fact I came here to talk to you because you're coming with me so I can make the proper introduction." Blaine said sarcastically.

"Really?"

"No, you idiot!"

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"I need to talk to him first, maybe later."

"Tomorrow?"

"We'll see..."

"Damn! I still can't believe it! You're a married man!"

"Fuck off!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was back at his apartment waiting for Kurt to arrive. He was looking at a picture of his dad and brother that was hidden in his special room. "What would you two be saying of all this?" He asked aloud. "Probably you would be telling me that this is what I get for being so irresponsible!" He smiled, imagining his father's voice. "And you'd be making fun of me!" He added, touching his brother's face.

Blaine sometimes felt alone and when he needed some kind of advice, he liked to talk to the pictures of his late father and brother that he had in the room inside the studio.

"Blaine?" Kurt yelled from the foyer.

"I'm coming!" He yelled back.

Blaine arranged the pictures again and walked out the room, locking the door behind him. Kurt was waiting awkwardly at the entrance of the large apartment.

"Hi, there. I see you didn't have any trouble with the elevator's key." Blaine said.

"No. My stuff is still downstairs, though…the guy in the lobby told me that they were going to bring it up here using the service elevator?" Kurt asked doubtfully.

"Yes, don't worry, they must be bringing up all your things as we speak."

"Okay, thanks…and, where am I going to sleep?"

"Look, although this apartment is huge, I don't have a spare room. I used to have one, but I transformed it to make a new studio so…I'm sorry _honey_ , but we'll have to share the main room." Blaine said, smiling and winking at Kurt.

"What!? No! No way! We're not going to share the bed! No!" Kurt stated.

"I'm sorry _honey_ , but we'll have to." Blaine said, smiling broadly. He was enjoying Kurt's discomfort way too much.

"No! We certainly won't do that! I can sleep on the couch…thank you very much."

"No, you can't! Imagine what would happen if the maid discovered my flamboyant new husband sleeping on the couch? _Oh-Uh_ , we don’t want that." Blaine said, in a mocking tone.

"I don't care if she discovers me or whatever! I'm not going to sleep with you! Like never!" Kurt said, sending Blaine a determined look.

"Well, just remember that we need to _'pretend'_ that we're a very happy couple to get our divorce, so I'm sorry _honey_ -" He said, emphasizing the word honey again. "-but, we'll have to share the room." He added, winking at his husband.

Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. Apparently he had no other option.

"Okay, fine! But we're just sharing the room. Don't you ever dream to be near me! All of this-" Kurt said, pointing to his body. '"-is not yours, get it?"

"But we are married, honey." Blaine said, clearly making fun of Kurt.

"Yes, we are married, but we're just pretending to be a couple and our agreement doesn't include intimacy. So don't you dare to even try it! I'm not another one of your one-night stand trophies!"

"That's too bad because we could have had a lot of fun together. I can't remember what we did yesterday, but judging by the mess in the room, and the blush in your cheeks right now, I bet we had a lot of fun together." Blaine said.

"Shut up!" Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, I guess it's true what everyone says about marriage!"

"What?"

"That there's no sex once you're married."

"Aww don't worry, _honey_ , you can go and satisfy yourself with whoever you want! I really don't care!" Kurt said.

"I'm glad you bring that up because that was exactly what I wanted to tell you. We're going to continue living our lives as we were used to. We will pretend to be married and everything, but we'll continue living our lives separately."

"I agree." Kurt replied. "Just try not to make too evident that you're cheating on me, okay, _honey?_ You certainly wouldn't want me to get the divorce using the adultery ground, would you?"

"Are you threatening me?" Blaine asked.

"Am I? Oh, no, not at all… _honey_. I'm just being a very good and supportive husband. I understand that you have the animal instinct to have sex with everything that moves and I don't care about that, but I don't want to be the poor cheated newlywed whose husband is sleeping with every boy in town." Kurt said, being as sarcastic as Blaine had been acting.

"Aww, honey. I don't know how to thank you for your amazing support! I couldn't have asked for a better husband!" Blaine mocked him, smiling wickedly.

"Well, what can I say? I'm a box full of surprises, honey. You'll see." Kurt said, smiling back.

Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah whatever, let me show you around."

Kurt shrugged and followed Blaine through the apartment. Their time together was just starting and it was already a living hell.


	2. Chapter 2

Their first week living together had not been as bad as they had imagined it would be. They both had demanding jobs, so when Blaine usually arrived home Kurt was already asleep (or pretending to be) and they didn't have to go through all that awkward nightly conversation. The few times they had talked to each other, they had tried to be nice, though with their opposite personalities that had been a bit hard and more than once they had ended up making a sarcastic remark about themselves, but other than that, they both had been very civilized with each other.

On Friday night, Kurt was working home doing some improvements to the final presentation he had to deliver for the preview of the exhibition that the museum would be hosting in November. He knew it was still early to be doing this work, but he, as the head chief leader of the restoration department and temporary exhibitions of the Metropolitan Museum, had to have everything ready before May ended.

He had been so immersed in his work that he hadn't noticed the time, but it was very late and Blaine wasn't home yet. Kurt didn't really care, Blaine could do whatever the hell he wanted, but he would be lying if he didn't say that after that he started looking at the clock every two seconds, expecting for his worst nightmare to arrive. After a while Kurt heard some noises coming from the living room, so confused, he stood up and walked near the door to try to listen more clearly.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh!" Someone was shushing. "You're going to get us caught!"

Kurt was confused, the voice sounded like Blaine's, but he was not sure. He sounded weird.

Kurt hid behind the wall that framed the hallway and snooped around to see who was laughing in the living room. Blaine was there, drunk and with some random guy. They were laughing and hugging each other and Kurt suddenly felt nauseous. He knew they were just pretending to be together, but Kurt was mad, Blaine should at least show some kind of respect for his fake husband and take his sex dates somewhere else.

Kurt felt his blood boiling and without thinking it too much, took off his shirt and walked casually toward the kitchen.

"Oh! There you are, honey! I'm glad you're home! I've missed you!" Kurt said, getting closer to Blaine and giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek, clearly surprising him—and the boy next to him too.

Blaine looked at him with surprise. His eyes were lost and he was looking at Kurt's body with a hint of shock, anger and desire.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, honey?" Kurt added, smiling sarcastically. He was enjoying Blaine's confused expression a lot. "Hi, there! I'm Kurt, Blaine's husband." He introduced himself, extending his hand to greet the guy and making sure that the ring was very, very visible.

"Dave." The guy answered confused, and looking at Blaine, he asked. "Are you married?"

Blaine shook his head. "No! I'm…I'm not, he's my…my…my cousin. He's here for va-vacations."

"Are you ashamed of me, honey?" Kurt asked, feigning to be hurt by Blaine's words. 

"You are married! Why didn't you tell me, you, son of a bitch!? Why did you bring me here? You're an asshole!" The guy yelled, slapping Blaine hard in the face.

Blaine almost fell due to the slap, but he managed to grab himself from the wall, blinking repeatedly and trying to regain focus. Kurt was smiling triumphantly while the Dave guy just called the elevator and disappeared from view.

"Wha-what? What waaasss thatttt?" Blaine asked.

"What are you talking about?" Kurt asked, feigning innocence and this time really walking to the kitchen.

"You're…you're…" Blaine repeated, trying to complete a sentence, but the alcohol in his veins was clouding his mind.

"I am, what?"

"The most…an-annooying and…and…the most annoyyying and handsome husband everrrrr!"

"Shut up! You're too drunk to even speak coherently, go to sleep Blaine!"

Blaine nodded and tried to make a military salute as he said. _'Yes sir!'_

Kurt rolled his eyes and watched Blaine walking toward the room. He was stumbling over everything that was in front of him. Kurt felt sorry for him and went over to help him.

"Awwww now you're playing niiiiicccceeee!" Blaine squealed.

"Just this time, Blaine…don't get used to it."

Kurt helped Blaine to reach the bed and dropped him there. Blaine started to roll around and play with the pillows.

"Stay on your side, Blaine!" Kurt demanded.

Blaine ignored him and continued rolling from one side to the other. Kurt shrugged in defeat and walked out the room. He was near the door when he heard Blaine saying, "You are really, really, really a very handddsssomeee man!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and closed the door. He walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and returned to the studio to continue working for a few more hours. He didn't want to be near his drunk husband any time soon.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine opened his eyes and regretted it almost immediately. His head was killing him—again. He blinked a couple of times and stood up from the, apparently, empty bed. He was still wearing yesterdays' clothes and he smelled like booze.

"God..." He whispered.

Confused, Blaine tried to collect his thoughts, but the noise coming from outside the room was distracting him. It was music, soothing music sounding very loudly.

Blaine walked following the sound and froze at his studio door. The music was emanating from _inside_ the room and in that moment he felt terrified. His studio was the most sacred part of the whole house. Well, not his studio _per se_ , but the room inside his studio.

He opened the door carefully and gasped in surprise.

Kurt was there, wearing just a pair of sweatpants, his torso was completely nude and he was working on something. It was a very stunning view, but Blaine's eyes went straight to the mess around the blue-eyed boy and he got distracted immediately.

"What the hell did you do?" He asked annoyed.

"Oh. Hey, honey! Did you sleep well?" Kurt asked, clearly teasing Blaine.

"What the hell did you do to my studio!?"

"Oh, nothing. I just brought my stuff. I made myself at home just like you suggested when I moved here." Kurt replied nonchalantly.

"What's this?" He asked, pointing to the stuff scattered in the room.

"I already told you, my stuff."

"Why did you have to put this in here? What's this?" Blaine asked, pointing to a huge dough that was over a funny-looking table.

"I told you I was an artist…this is my stuff. I'm working on a new sculpture."

"But this is a mess!" Blaine exclaimed, pointing to the dust covering the room.

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up as soon as I finish!"

"This is my studio, Kurt! Why did you have to install yourself in here?"

"Because there's no other free room in the apartment? I thought about using the library, but then I thought that probably that wasn't the best place because this dust is really hard to clean."

"And then you decided to cover my studio with it instead?"

"Well, this is my temporary home, _honey_ , and I need to work, so I thought we could share the studio too, just like the room." Kurt said with a smile.

"You could have rented some other place!"

"Well, I don't have any money for renting and I used to do this at home. And since now I'll have to be stuck in here for the next six months I decided to install myself in here…don't worry, I divided the place in half." Kurt said. "That's your half and this is mine. I tried to use that small room back there, but it's locked so…"

"Never! Ever! Try to get in there again, okay?" Blaine yelled, clearly upset. "You can mess with my whole house, but you're not allowed to be near that place! Ever! Did you hear me?"

"Why not?" Kurt asked, his curious self taking over him.

"Because it is forbidden!" Blaine yelled.

"What's in there?" Kurt asked, smiling curiously.

"Nothing of your concern!"

"Relax and don't worry! I won't be near that door." Kurt said, raising his hands in defeat.

Blaine rolled his eyes and walked out the room muttering a soft _'I hate you!'_

Kurt laughed a little. He enjoyed teasing Blaine so much that it wasn't even healthy anymore.

"And by the way," Blaine said, walking into the room again, "thanks for ruining my date last night! That was very classy of you!"

"You're welcome." Kurt replied, shrugging and still smiling. He couldn't help it, teasing Blaine was his new hobby.

Blaine rolled his eyes once more. "You are a very annoying man!"

"Ditto." Kurt replied, smiling again and ignoring Blaine's furious eyes.

"Ahhhh! You're impossible!" Blaine screamed desperately.

"Ditto." Kurt said again.

"Why did you do it?" Blaine finally asked.

"What?"

"Your _welcome-home_ scene last night!"

"Oh, that! Well, I thought it was very disrespectful of you to bring your sex date to our home."

"This is my home! Not _our_ home!"

"It's _our_ home for the next six months!" Kurt said. "Besides, there's just one bed in the apartment, where were you planning on spending the night with him, huh? Certainly not in the couch, am I right? What did you expect me to do? Wait until you finish fucking the guy and then knock on _our_ bedroom's door and ask you, _'honey, are you done yet? I need to sleep.'_ I don't think so, Blaine! I know we're just pretending to be a couple, but at least you could show me some kind of respect, don't you think? You didn't let me sleep on the couch because the maid could discover we're just a farce, and yet you arrived to _our_ home with some strange guy and you were planning on fucking him in _our_ bed. Tell me how that fits in our couple's facade?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. He didn't want to admit that Kurt was right in some kind of way, so he did what he did best...ignored him.

"You know what? I'm not going to argue with you…every day is one less day to be near you, so don't worry, _honey_ , next time I'll go to a hotel."

"Perfect!" Kurt agreed a little annoyed.

Blaine walked out of the room and shouted. "And turn off that stupid music!"

Kurt walked to the door and shouted back at him. "It's not stupid! It's called classical music! But, what could you possibly know about that? You're just a stupid, arrogant, selfish and silly rich boy with nothing in his brain but sex!"

"You don't know me at all!" Blaine shouted back.

"Nor do I want to! You're just a pain in the ass!"

"Well, _honey_ , in that we can agree…I wish I was the pain in your ass!"

"Jerk!" Kurt yelled.

"Prude!"

"Hoe!"

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine knocked on Sam's apartment door a little too hard, but he didn't care. He was still in a rage due to his little encounter with Kurt in the morning.

"Hey, buddy! How are you?" Sam greeted him excited. "What did my door do to you? You almost knocked it down."

"I hate Kurt with all my soul!" Blaine stated, making his way inside Sam's apartment.

"Why?" Sam asked confused.

"He's a pain in the ass!"

"Really?" Sam asked again, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive way. He was clearly just mocking Blaine.

"I'm not talking about that, you idiot! I mean it as an insult! He's annoying!"

"Oh…what did he do? You told me he was tolerable during the week."

"Well, because we hadn't seen each other all week! But he's anything but tolerable. He's a troublemaker! He ruined my date last night and he's invading my home!"

"He ruined your date?" Sam asked confused.

"Yes! He told Dave he was my husband!"

"Wait! Dave the guy you met at the bar on Wednesday?" Sam asked, taking two beers out of the fridge and handing one to Blaine.

"Yes, I really liked him, but it doesn't matter anymore because he doesn't want to see me ever again because thanks to Kurt, now he knows I'm a married man." Blaine said, taking a sip of his beer.

"How did that happen?"

"I arrived home with Dave and-"

"Wait! You brought Dave to your house?"

"Yes?"

"Are you stupid or something?"

"No…why?"

"Well, that was kind of disrespectful for Kurt, don't you think? He's living there, you could have gone to a hotel or to this guy's place."

"That's what Kurt said…"

"And he was right! He's living there. You're sharing the same room! What were you thinking?"

"I was drunk." Blaine replied as a matter of explanation.

"You're always drunk."

"Yeah, I know." Blaine said, smiling and clinking his beer with Sam's.

"Well, and what happened?" Sam asked, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"He came out of the room nearly naked and greeted me like if he was my loving husband waiting for me to come home."

"Really? Did he really do that?"

"Yeah, he did."

"That must have been very funny."

"It was not, though I have to applaud his nerve. He's so weird."

"Why?"

Blaine took another sip of his beer. "I don't know...sometimes he's shy and insecure, but sometimes he's so sure of himself that I don't know what to think about him."

"Maybe he just pretends to be shy." Sam said tentatively.

"Maybe, but he's annoying either way."

"Why do you find him so annoying?" Sam asked curiously.

"Because he enjoys teasing me! He's all day making fun of me and pointing out my flaws. Sometimes I think he tries to play with my mind! He walks all day just wearing a pair of sweatpants, bragging me his fucking perfect body and he's-"

"Wait!" Sam interrupted. "You're annoyed because he has a perfect body?"

"Well, no, of course not! I don't care if he lifts everyday to get those abs or anything, but I'm a human being and he's an attractive man. You know me, buddy! Sex is one of my weaknesses." Blaine confessed.

Sam started laughing uncontrollably. "Oh my God! You like him!"

"Of course I don't like him! I just find him _slightly_ attractive, that's all."

"No, you don't! You like him and that's why you're so upset, because he's not surrendering to your charm!"

"Please, Sam! If I wanted, I could have him in my bed anytime." Blaine said, sure of himself. So far his luck with men had been golden star perfect.

"Really?"

"Yes…I haven't tried it because I think it's a bad idea." He said, lying and hiding the fact that Kurt had told him not to even dare to try anything.

"You haven't tried to have sex with him?"

"No…" He said, partially lying again. He hadn't tried it precisely, but maybe he had left the door of the bathroom open two times trying to tempt Kurt with his body, and he had been sleeping with just his brief boxers to leave nothing to the imagination, but to his bad luck, both attempts hadn't worked so far.

"That's a first!" Sam exclaimed, clearly surprised. He knew his best friend's history with men and sex.

"Shut up!"

"Can I meet him yet? Now more than ever I'm dying to know who he is!"

"I think you can meet him tonight if you want." Blaine shrugged.

"Yeah! We can have dinner at your place and-"

"Okay, okay shut it! Let's go! And, please? Hide that stupid grin!"

"I can't, my friend, I'm enjoying this moment big time."

"I don't even know why you're still my friend...I really don't know."

"Because you love me." Sam said, matter of factly. "But, let's go! I'm dying to meet Mr. Anderson!"

Blaine rolled his eyes and opened the door in defeat. Sometimes having a friend like Sam wasn't the best idea.

o-o-o-o-o

When Blaine and Sam arrived to the apartment they found out, much to Blaine's surprise, that Kurt was not there yet.

"Maybe he went to buy something." Blaine said. It was unusual for Kurt not to be home. During the past days Blaine had managed to learn that Kurt was not a very social person, he was a creature of habit. He went from his job to their home, and never, ever, went out.

"Or perhaps he went out with someone." Sam said, teasing his friend.

"Perhaps…though I really don't care, he can do whatever he wants."

"Yeah, right!" Sam replied, smirking.

"I'm telling the truth!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes. "He's a big boy he can take care of himself."

"How old is he anyway?"

"He's 26."

"Just a year younger than you, how appropriate."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Sam were playing video games when Kurt finally arrived home. He entered the apartment carrying some papers bags with funny-looking stuff he needed to start his new painting. He wanted to spice his work a little bit so he had gone downtown to do some last minute shopping.

"Hey, Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed. "…and his friend." He said, noticing the second man in the room.

"Hey!" Blaine answered. "Hmmm, Kurt...this is my friend, more like a brother, Sam."

Kurt left the bags in the nearest couch and came near the boys to greet them.

"Haven't we met before?" Kurt said, once he had the chance to see Sam's face more clearly. He was sure he had seen him before, though he couldn't pinpoint where and when, yet.

"Yes! Your face seems familiar too! You're friends with Mercedes Jones, right?" Sam said, clearly recognizing Kurt too.

Blaine looked at them completely puzzled. "You two know each other?"

"Yes and no. He's friends with the girl I told you about, though I didn't know his name. We've seen each other a couple of times, right?" Sam said.

"Yes!" Kurt agreed, smiling friendly at Sam.

"The singer who is also a waitress?" Blaine asked confused.

"Yes! I didn't know your husband was him! Nice to finally know who you are! Wow, this is definitely a small city!" Sam said, grabbing Kurt's hand and shaking it firmly.

"Totally!" Kurt agreed politely. "Nice to meet you again, Sam…I have to go to finish some work, but I'll see you guys later for dinner, okay?" Kurt said, excusing himself and walking toward the studio.

Blaine and Sam stayed in silence until Kurt closed the door behind him.

"He's cute...and nice." Sam said.

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, he is! The couple of times I saw him at the bar he was always supporting Mercedes. He's always smiling and taking pictures, I think he's a nice guy."

"You can marry him in six months if you want."

Sam laughed. "No way, buddy! He's your man! I would never, ever, do that to you, besides I'd rather marry his friend…dudes are not my thing."

Blaine rolled his eyes, smiling. _His man._

o-o-o-o-o

On Sunday morning Kurt was reading a book in the small library inside the house when he heard Blaine screaming in pain. He stood up immediately and tried to find him around the apartment. He was in the main room lying on the floor near the walk-in closet.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Blaine was saying when Kurt entered the room.

"What happened?" Kurt asked worriedly.

"I fell…I was reaching that box and I fell and the glass broke and-" Blaine explained, but in that moment Kurt noticed the pool of blood on the floor and the long cut across Blaine's leg.

"Jesus! You're bleeding! Wait! Don't move, let me help you!" Kurt immediately exclaimed.

"There's no need, I can call a doctor."

"I'm sure you can, but by the time he arrives you're going to be out of blood. Let me help you, I know how to do it."

"Okay…?" Blaine agreed doubtfully.

Kurt rushed to the bathroom and took out the first aid kit. He knelt beside Blaine and began to heal his wounds.

"There are some pieces of glass buried in your leg…this is going to hurt a little, but if I don't remove them the wounds could get infected." Kurt explained, before proceeding to remove the glass.

"Okay…go on."

Blaine closed his eyes and tried not to scream when Kurt started to pull out one by one the pieces of glass from his leg.

Kurt was being very careful not to hurt Blaine. He knew how to do it. He was quite an expert actually. Blaine, on the other hand, was puzzled. He didn't know what he was feeling. He liked the idea of someone caring for him, but he was too selfish to admit it, even to himself.

"Done!" Kurt said, smiling satisfied at his work and finishing with the last wound.

"Thanks." Blaine replied, frowning.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked, noticing that small frown on Blaine's face.

"Why are you being so…nice with me? I thought you hated me."

"Well, I don't hate you, I just don't know you. I admit that sometimes I find you a little annoying, but that's normal. We're just getting used to this particular situation. I'm not comfortable with this at all, but I think we can at least try to be cordial with each other, don't you think? After all, we're going to be living together for a very long time."

"I suppose you're right…"

"What do you say if we start again? I think we had a pretty intense first week. Perhaps we can try to at least be friends? What do you say? Do you want to be my friend?" Kurt asked, raising his hand in a friendly way.

"Okay…" Blaine agreed, smiling confused. He had never had a friend before—besides Sam of course—and he didn't know how he felt about it.

They both looked at each other until Kurt stood up and started cleaning all the mess. Blaine tried to stand up too, but his leg ached badly and he fell again.

"Easy cowboy…let me help you." Kurt said, helping Blaine to stand up.

Kurt helped Blaine to reach the bed, being very careful not to hurt him while helping him sit there.

"It hurts." Blaine confessed.

"Of course it hurts, your whole leg is scratched…but hopefully there won't be any scars." Kurt said, placing some pillows on Blaine's back and the wounded leg, so the man could lie down and rest.

"Where did you learn to do this? Besides being an artist you're some secret doctor and I didn't know?"

Kurt laughed. "No, I'm not. I learned to do this when my brother got sick."

"You have a brother?" Blaine asked, clearly intrigued. He didn't know a thing about his husband and suddenly he was curious.

"Yes, I had a brother."

"You had? Is he...dead?" Blaine asked, stunned by the past tense Kurt had used when referring to his brother.

"Yes, he died a few years ago."

"Was he sick?"

"Yes, he had a strange disease that kind of made him weak, so his skin was too sensitive, a single scratch caused us a lot of trouble."

"Was he older than you?" Blaine asked again. He knew better than anyone what it was like to lose a brother.

"No, we were the same age. He was my stepbrother, but I saw him as a real brother."

"What was his name?"

"Finn."

"I'm sorry Finn's dead."

"Thanks." Kurt said, sighing.

They both remained silent for a couple of seconds. It was the first time since they had met that they had had a real conversation, and it felt odd.

"Are you hungry?" Kurt suddenly asked.

"Yes…"

"I'll go make some dinner."

"You want me to help?" Blaine asked friendly.

"No, it's fine. I'll take care of the cooking. You better try to rest and don't move until the wounds are closed, okay?"

"Okay…thanks again."

"You're welcome." Kurt replied, smiling and walking out of the room.

When the door closed behind the boy, Blaine found himself smiling. Something had just changed between them, though they still were not aware of what it was…yet.


	3. Chapter 3

A month went by and the relationship between Blaine and Kurt was friendlier. They were learning to live with each other despite the fact that they were completely different. Kurt was discovering that he enjoyed spending time with Blaine and that he actually liked some things about him that at first he had found annoying. Blaine, on the other hand, was enjoying having someone else in his life. And in spite of his reluctance to admit it, it was the first time in a very long time that he felt happy. It was weird, but in just one month they had adapted to live together perfectly.

"Hey, Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed when he arrived home.

"Hey, Blaine! How was your day?"

"Fine, a little heavy, I had a lot of work. I thought I would never get out of there…I'm glad it's over, what are you doing?" He asked, noticing that his friend was typing something on his laptop.

"Oh, I'm making the text for the exhibition I told you about last week…"

"The one about some Greco guy?"

"Yes! El Greco in New York…You want to listen to what I have so far?"

"Yeah, sure!" Blaine said, sitting down on the table next to Kurt.

 _"To commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of the death of El Greco, the Metropolitan Museum and the Hispanic Society of America are pooling their collections of the work of this great painter to provide a panorama of his art unrivaled outside the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The Frick Museum will display its paintings contemporaneously. This is a unique opportunity to see this artist's work, which exerted such a strong impact on modern painting and especially appealed to New York collectors."_ Kurt finished reading and asked. "What do you think?"

"It sounds great!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah, totally!"

"Thanks." Kurt said, smiling.

"Have you eaten already?" Blaine asked.

"No…"

"Then let's go out to grab some food, I'm really not in the mood for cooking."

"I could do the cooking if you want." Kurt suggested.

"No, I'm starving! Besides, you've been working too, let's go out for some food. Dinner's on me."

"Okay…but I get to choose the place." Kurt said excited.

"Yeah, whatever, just hurry up! I'm really starving…I haven't eaten all day!"

o-o-o-o-o

The restaurant that Kurt chose was nice. The place was cozy and according to Kurt's description they served the best food in all New York. Blaine wasn't so sure about that because he was used to go to more sophisticated restaurants, but he agreed to, at least, give it a try to Kurt's idea of perfect restaurant.

"You'll see Blaine…you won't want to eat at any other restaurant after tonight! This is the best place around here!" Kurt said excited.

"Okay, we'll try it, but I'm not that sure…maybe the one I suggested was a better option?" Blaine said, looking around. He had to agree that the place looked nice enough, but it was not the best place he had been in.

"Of course not! I've been in that restaurant before and the food is not that good!"

"Have you been there?" Blaine asked stunned.

"Yes."

"Don't get me wrong, but you said you didn't have any money so, how was that you went there?" Blaine asked.

"Well, someone took me there on a date." Kurt replied, as a matter of explanation.

"Really? That must have been a very expensive date."

"Yes, I suppose it was."

"Can I ask you who took you there?"

"My ex boyfriend." Kurt answered sincerely.

"Was he rich?" Blaine asked curiously.

"Yes and no."

"How's that?"

"Well, when we started dating he was not rich, then he started earning a lot of money." Kurt explained.

"What does he do for a living?"

"He's a baseball player."

"Really?"

"Yes, he's a good one. He's kind of famous nowadays."

"What's his name?"

"Adam Crawford."

"The Yankees' best hitter? _That_ Adam Crawford?" Blaine asked stunned. He knew of whom Kurt was talking about. One of Blaine's passions were sports, especially baseball.

"Yes…"

"You were dating _him?_ "

"Yes."

"Wow…I didn't expect that."

"Why not?" Kurt asked confused.

"I don't know, I've seen him. I mean, I follow the baseball league and he's a celebrity and you're so..." Blaine trailed off, "I don't know how to say it without sounding like a total douche."

"Just say it…I won't take offense."

"Well, you're such a simple man that I can't picture you living the glamorous life of the celebrities." Blaine said, a little flushed.

"Well, for me he was not a celebrity and we met when we were young so, he knew I didn't need the whole fancy charade to be happy. As you well said, I'm a very simple guy…I enjoy the little things in life, and he knew and respected that." Kurt said, giving Blaine a friendly smile.

"Well, that was nice of him, I mean, to respect you for who you are." Blaine answered, smiling back.

"Yeah…"

The waitress interrupted them to take the order. Since Blaine was looking at the menu with a confused expression, Kurt made all the food choices and let Blaine to choose the wine.

"So, this Adam guy, was he important to you?" Blaine asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yes, we shared a lot of years together, five to be precise. He was with me when my brother died and when I graduated from college, and in so many special moments."

"Then, why did you two break up?"

"Because we weren't right for each other."

"How did you know that?"

"What?"

"That you two weren't right for each other."

"Well, we didn't know it, but I guess that once we broke up we kind of realized it. I mean, we loved each other, but we weren't just right for each other…it's something I can't describe because it's something you must feel."

"Was it difficult for you to not be with him after so many years?"

"It was painful at the beginning, yes, because like I already said, we shared a lot of important moments in our lives, but it was the best for us."

"Are you still in touch with him?"

"No, we haven't spoken since we broke up more than a year ago."

"Do you still love him?"

"I don't know…"

Blaine remained silent. He was confused and trying to picture Kurt with this guy.

"Tell me about yourself…how was your last relationship?" Kurt asked.

Blaine looked down ashamed. He had never had this type of conversation with anyone before.

"Well, to be honest? I've never had a boyfriend before." Blaine confessed.

"What!?" Kurt asked, clearly surprised. Until now he had picture Blaine as a man-eater.

"I mean, of course I've been with guys and stuff, but my _'love'_ story is not based in relationships _per se_. When I was in high school I dated some girls because I was confused, but then when I finally accepted myself I started seeing a lot of guys, but I've never been in a formal relationship before."

"Really? Like never?"

"Really."

"Why not?"

"I don't know…"

"Maybe you haven't found the right person."

"Maybe…"

"And, what about Sam?"

"He's just my friend."

"I know that, but you never had a crush on him or something?" Kurt asked.

"No, I think I'm very selective about my crushes...I like to think that I have good taste in men. My friend is cute, but he's not my type." Blaine said, smiling playfully, and for some unknown reason Kurt blushed.

In that moment the waitress interrupted them again arriving with their food, and Kurt sighed in relief. 

"Bon appetite." Blaine said, smiling again and picking up his fork.

"Bon appetite." Kurt whispered back.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt left the restaurant laughing uproariously. They had spent a very good time during dinner.

"You have to admit it, Blaine! Come on! Admit it! You enjoyed the food!" Kurt was teasing Blaine.

"Well, it was not bad…" Blaine admitted.

"Not bad? You almost licked the plate!"

"Okay! It was really good!" Blaine gave up.

"I knew it! You loved it!"

"Yes! I loved the place, I loved the food! You were right about everything, happy?"

Kurt smiled broadly and nodded. Blaine just rolled his eyes and started searching for the parking ticket, but Kurt interrupted him.

"No, wait! Let's go for a walk…the night is beautiful! Look! Come on, Blaine! Let's go!"

Blaine looked at him puzzled. Kurt laughed again.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not asking for something insane. It's not that late…and the night is beautiful, let's go and walk around. We have no rush, let's enjoy this night off! We both deserve it! Leave your car in here. We're in Central Park, Blaine! Come on! Just a little walk!" Kurt begged.

Blaine rolled his eyes, but smiled in agreement. "Okay."

Kurt smiled triumphantly and clapped his hands excitedly.

o-o-o-o-o

They were walking in complete silence around Central Park. Neither of them wanted or needed to say anything. They were just enjoying the stroll.

"Let's sit there." Kurt said, pointing to a little spot hidden between the trees.

Blaine looked around confused. Kurt had suddenly run and was seated on the grass with his legs crossed. He seemed very excited about it and Blaine was looking at him a bit stunned.

"Come on, Blaine! Join me! It's lovely in here."

Blaine smiled shyly and joined him. He sat down next to him and looked at him still confused. Kurt was smiling radiantly.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes! This is one of my favorite things to do in the world!" Kurt replied excitedly.

"What? Sitting in the middle of the night at some random spot in Central Park?"

"No! Stargazing! Look up!" Kurt said, pointing to the sky.

Blaine looked up and saw what Kurt was talking about. The light was so low in that small spot in the city that in fact there were stars in the sky—real stars.

"When was the last time you looked up to see what was beyond your reach?" Kurt asked. His eyes were lost in the starry sky.

"I don't know...when I was a kid, I suppose." Blaine whispered, not taking his eyes away from the sky either.

Kurt smiled at him and lay down on the grass. Without thinking it twice, Blaine did the same thing and suddenly, they both were lying on the grass looking at the stars.

"I used to think that the only place in New York City to see stars was the planetarium." Blaine said, breaking the silence.

"It is—most of the time—but there are some special nights, like tonight, when you can see real stars."

"Yeah…"

"Look! That's the big dipper!" Kurt said, pointing to some starts.

"The what?"

"The big dipper…look! Those four stars over there form up the bowl, and those three over there form the handle." Kurt said, pointing to the constellation.

"So that's why it's called the Big Dipper! Because it actually resembles the form of a dipper." Blaine said, finally understanding.

"Yes, though it is also known as the Ursa Major, did you know that some Native American communities and the Greeks used to see the shape of a bear within those stars?" Kurt said.

"A bear? Really?"

"Yes…haven't you heard the stories about the big dipper?"

"No."

"You want to hear one?"

"Yes."

"This one is from the Iroquois. For starters you need to know that the four stars that give shape to the bowl represent the _'bear,'_ and the ones that give shape to the handle represent three warriors. Those warriors are supposedly hunting the bear across the sky and were named after birds, Robin, Chickadee and Cowbird." Kurt explained. "Do you see that star over there? The tiny one next to the one in the middle of the handle?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, that star is called Alcor and according to the legend is the _'pan'_ that Chickadee, the middle warrior, is carrying to cook the bear's meat once they manage to hunt her. The legend sometimes refers to these three stars as the hunters who are always hunting…" Kurt trailed off. "Anyway, the story says that once a year in the early spring, a bear awakens from hibernation and leaves her Den in search of food. The den is represented by the circle of stars in the Corona Borealis…the ones over there…see?"

"Those?" Blaine asked, pointing to a bunch of stars.

"Yes."

"Okay…go on."

"The story says that the hunters spot the bear's fresh tracks in the snow and begin the search. They lurk her throughout the spring and summer, slowly following her up thru the sky and back down to the other side, following the constellation path across the sky. In late fall, the hunters finally reach the bear near the bottom of the sky very close to the earth. Right over there." Kurt said, pointing to some low point in the horizon. "According to the story the bear stands on her hind legs to fight the hunters, but Robin takes careful aim and shoots an arrow killing her instantly. The blood from the bear's wound sprinkles down into the forests of the land below and stains the leaves of red. That is why the Iroquois thought that the leaves of the trees changed of color in the fall. It is also believed that some of the blood from the bear's wounds also stained Robin's chest and that is why those birds are believed to have red breast."

"That's wonderful!" Blaine said, smiling genuinely.

"According to the legend the bear is cut up and cooked during the winter to feed the tribe, with the bear's skeleton remaining in the sky low in the horizon, lying on her back."

"Poor bear."

"I know, but the Iroquois believed that the spirit of the bear remained alive and traveled all the way back to the Den to possess another bear. So every year, in the spring, a new bear reawakens and leaves the den to start the travel all over again, each year for all the eternity."

"Oh my God, that's amazing! Where did you hear that?"

"My late grandma used to tell me stories about the stars and they kind of got stuck in my memory. As a kid I really used to believe they were real. I used to spend almost every night staring at the sky imagining all the stories she had told me. Now I know they are not true, but I still find them interesting…I like the mysticism surrounding them."

"Tell me another one!" Blaine asked excitedly.

"Well, the Greeks also saw a shape of a bear among those stars, but they used to see another smaller bear nearby."

"Really? Which one?"

"That one…see that constellation over there?" Kurt pointed to the sky again.

"Yup?"

"That's the Ursa Minor…or the Little Dipper."

"That's the other bear?"

"Yes, the Greeks named these bears as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The story of how those bears ended up in the sky goes something like this...it's a bedtime story so don't laugh!" Kurt warned before continuing.

Blaine nodded.

"Long ago, there was a beautiful princess daughter of the King of Arcadia named Callisto. One day, the Great King of the gods, Zeus, noticed her accompanying Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Zeus had the habit of seducing young maidens, and eventually he put an eye on Callisto and made her one of his many lovers. Zeus tried to keep his affair with Callisto hidden from his wife the goddess Hera, but that was impossible because in time, Callisto gave birth to Zeus' son, Arcas, and Hera learned of it. Hera was very upset so, as a punishment, she turned Callisto into a bear and banished her to roam the wilds. Over the years, Arcas grew up into a great hunter. One day, while hunting far into the woods, he came upon an unusual bear. Obviously Arcas didn't know it was his own mother, so he prepared himself to hunt it down. Callisto saw his son and tried to speak with him, attempting to approach him, but she could only growl. Arcas saw the bear advancing towards him and got scared, so he grabbed his spear and drew his sword."

"Did he kill his mother?"

"No, Zeus intervened just in time."

"What did he do?"

"He changed Arcas into a bear as well, so that he and his mother could be together. As a revenge to Hera, and to keep them from further harm, Zeus placed them both high up in the sky out of Hera's reach, but always within his sight every night of the year."

"That's sweet."

"Yeah, but it is said that Hera got the last word in this story by forbidding the bears from ever resting beneath the Earth, and that is why it is believed that those constellations can never set below the horizon like the others. Let's say they are condemned to always be shining in the sky."

"But at least they are together."

"Yes…that's the pretty side of the story."

"What about the other constellations?"

"There are tons of stories about them…Orion, Taurus, Scorpius, The Pleiades, the Milky Way." Kurt exhaled.

"Tell me one about the Milky Way."

"Well, there are a lot of stories and theories about that one…almost every culture in the world has its own explanation about it."

"Then tell me your favorite." Blaine encouraged him.

"Well," Kurt trailed off, closing his eyes to remember his favorite story, "according to the old Chinese household folklore, the Milky Way is a wide silver river that separates two star-crossed lovers represented by the Altair and Vega stars. It is believed that only once a year they can reunite and be together for a single night."

"That sounds interesting…what's the story?"

"The story says that a young shepherd named Niülang, the Altair star, came across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. He stole their clothes and only agreed to give them back if one of the sisters agreed to marry him. The youngest and most beautiful of the fairy sisters, Zhinü, the Vega star, agreed to his request and married him. They lived happily together for some time and had two children. Soon after, the goddess of heaven found out that Zhinü, who was a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal and very furious decided to separate them, forcing the fairy to go back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds, a task that by the way, she had neglected to do while she was living on earth with her mortal husband. When Niülang discovered that his wife had disappeared, he carried his two beloved children and went to heaven to find Zhinü. The goddess discovered this and became very upset, so she took out her hairpin and scratched a wide silver river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever."

"What we know as the Milky Way." Blaine said, guessing the story.

"Indeed, the _'river'_ between Altair and Vega is what we call the Milky Way. Zhinü was condemned to sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niülang watched her from afar taking care of their two children, represented by the two stars that are flanking Altair's star."

"That's tragic."

"Yes, but it is also believed that once a year all the magpies birds in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge, known as the bridge of magpies, over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation, so that the lovers can be together for a single night, which is in the seventh night of the seventh moon in the Chinese calendar."

"That's cheesy." Blaine said, smiling.

"Yeah, it's kind of cheesy, but I like it because it shows that no matter what, love always finds a way." Kurt exhaled.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt were already lying in their bed both looking at opposite sides when Blaine asked. "Kurt…are you already asleep?"

"No…"

"I just wanted to thank you for the amazing restaurant choice and for the stories about the stars…that was...hmmm, nice for a little change."

Kurt smiled and rolled his eyes. He knew Blaine still couldn't drop out the hint of irony in his voice, but he appreciated the gesture.

"You're welcome."

"You're in fact a box full of surprises." Blaine confessed.

"I warned you." Kurt replied, smiling.

"I know."

"Goodnight Blaine."

"Goodnight Kurt."

They both fell asleep almost immediately with a huge grin on their faces. Something was changing, rapidly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The note about the museum is true. The Metropolitan Museum hosted the Greco exhibition on November 2014. You can check more about it at the museum's official web page. The stories about the stars are also true, my grandpa used to tell me those when I was a little one, but you can also find them using our friend Mr. Google.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine was anxiously pacing around his large office when Sam opened the door. "Blaine! I wanted to-" He trailed off, "are you okay, buddy?" He asked, noticing the frown plastered on his best friend's face.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, you look anxious."

"I'm not anxious, I'm worried…I just remembered the Gala event and I haven't told Kurt about it." Blaine said, cracking the knuckles of his left hand.

"You haven't?"

"No."

"Why not?" Sam asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"Well, I haven't found a way to tell him without sounding like if I was asking him out." Blaine explained.

"What?" Sam asked confused.

"I don't want him to misunderstand my words." Blaine replied, as a matter of explanation.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, still confused.

"Well, we're really good friends now and we enjoy our time together, so I don't want him to think that I'm asking him out on a date or something."

Sam started laughing loudly. His whole body was shaking with the hysterics attack that he was having. Blaine just looked at him completely puzzled.

"May I ask what's so funny?"

"You, of course!" Sam replied, trying to control his laughter. "You're not worried, Blaine, you're afraid!"

"Afraid? Of what if I may ask?"

"That he rejects you! The one who is thinking about asking him out on a date is you. I can assure you that Kurt would never think of that invitation as a date. For God's sake, Blaine! It's a formal Gala of «your» company, you're the CEO and he is «your» husband! It is only natural that he has to go with you to this kind of events. I don't see why he would think that something else might be hidden behind that proposition. What I think is that you are actually considering that possibility. Face it! You'd like that! You would like to ask him out!"

"Of course I'm not considering that possibility!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

"Blaine, you can lie to yourself as much as you want, but you can't fool me, buddy! You're my best friend! We're almost like brothers! We grew up together! I know you as much as I know myself! You've been living with him for two months! Of course you like him! You're just afraid to face it!"

"I don't like him! He's my friend, that's all!" Blaine snapped, suddenly feeling trapped. "I haven't had another friend besides you in my whole life, and it feels nice to have someone else to talk to! That's all! Of course I don't like him." He said, trying to sound sure of his answer.

"Then, if you don't like him, why haven't you told him about the Gala yet? If he's your friend _,_ then what's the problem? It's like asking me to go with you, it's really not that big of a deal!"

Blaine rolled his eyes. He was trying hard to put aside all the words that Sam had said because they made sense and they couldn't make sense. Especially if they came out of his friend's mouth.

"You know what? Forget it! You don't understand, what do you want? Why did you come to my office?" Blaine said, jumping into his business-professional self to save himself from the uncomfortable conversation.

Sam rolled his eyes too. He knew his friend, and was sure that he was lying about his feelings towards Kurt.

"Well, Harry told me that there's a chance that we get the contract with the transnational cruisers company and I was wondering if you've received the memo already?"

"Oh, yeah. I signed it yesterday."

"So, are we really going to try to get the contract?"

"Yeah, totally!"

"Okay fine, but that would mean that we'd have to leave New York for a while, right? Well, at least some of us."

"Yeah, I already talked to some people over there, and in case that we do get the contract they're going to give us the best places for us to stay. We will be out for some months, so I asked only for the best."

"So, it's official then?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll start coordinating with the legal department to see how that goes…it's huge! I really hope we get it!"

"Yeah, me too! It would be a great opportunity for us."

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt was very deep into his work when Blaine arrived home. He was finishing one of his new paintings, so he didn't hear when Blaine opened the door of the studio and entered the room.

"Jesus! You startled me!" Kurt said, jumping scared when he felt Blaine behind him.

"Sorry." Blaine said, apologizing almost immediately and taking a step back. "I wanted to ask you something about-" He was saying when his eyes landed on the new painting Kurt had been working on. "Wow! That painting is amazing! Did you do that?"

"Yes." Kurt replied, blushing slightly.

"Wow!" Blaine breathed out.

"I had an inspiration boost and this is the result." Kurt said, clearly proud of his work.

"Well, it's wonderful…what's the title of it?"

"Hmmm…It doesn't have a title yet." Kurt confessed. He had just finished it.

"Well, it looks like a chaotic kind of order."

Kurt looked back and forth between Blaine and the painting. For some reason that he couldn't understand, Blaine had just got the soul of the painting at first sight.

"You're right…it's like a chaotic order. Maybe I could use that title, I like it."

"It fits." Blaine replied distracted. He was still lost in the painting.

The silence filled the room and Kurt looked at the man standing beside him. His hazel eyes were still fixed on the painting and there was a small frown on his face that Kurt couldn't decipher.

"Hmmm, you said you wanted to ask me something…what was it?" Kurt asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I got distracted with your painting…It's amazing." Blaine said, praising, one more time, Kurt's work.

"Thank you." Kurt replied coyly.

"Next week we have the annual Employee Gala of the company and well, I was wondering if you would like to go with me? I don't mean it as in on a date or something-" Blaine said, talking way too fast, "-but well, everybody knows we're married and I just thought that it would be strange to arrive to the most important event of the year for my company without my new husband so…hmmm, would you like to go?"

"Sure! When is it?" Kurt asked, smiling.

"Next Saturday."

"Okay, no problem! Your husband will be there to save the charade." Kurt said, smirking.

"Thank you."

"What do I have to wear?"

"It's formal, but whatever you want it's fine…I really don't mind." Blaine said, trying to sound nonchalantly, but the truth was that he was really excited about the prospect of going to the Gala with Kurt and he didn't even know why.

"Okay, don't worry. I'll go with you…thanks for asking."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Blaine said distracted. He had just noticed that Kurt's bare chest was covered with paint of the same colors used in the painting. And the way his pale skin looked next to the color was breathtaking. He felt his cheeks burning and he stuttered. "Uhh-uhh…I think I'll leave you alone, so-so you can continue…hmmm, working…painting...whatever...thanks again." He said, turning around to leave.

"Okay?"

Blaine left the room and Kurt stayed motionless watching at the now closed door with a strange expression on his face.

"That was weird..." He murmured to himself before returning to his painting.

o-o-o-o-o

On Saturday afternoon Kurt and Blaine were getting ready for the evening Gala. Blaine was just adjusting his bow-tie in front of the main-room mirror while Kurt was still getting ready in the dressing room.

"What do you think of this? Is it okay for the event?" Kurt asked, coming out of the dressing room in a double-breasted black tuxedo. He looked amazing and Blaine was speechless. _Wow._

"Uhh…hmmm...I mean, yeah! It's…hmmm, perfect." Blaine said a little nervous.

"Okay, I don't want to look out of place." Kurt confessed, spinning around so Blaine could look at his whole attire again.

"Well, certainly you won't. You look fantastic."

"Thank you! You do too." Kurt said, taking a moment to appreciate Blaine's outfit. He did look amazing.

Blaine smiled as a thank you and immediately turned around to hide his sudden blush. He couldn't understand what was going on with him these days, but every time Kurt looked at him like that he couldn't help but feel...weird.

o-o-o-o-o

"Ready?" Blaine asked Kurt when the limousine pulled over next to the main entrance of the building.

"I was born ready!" Kurt said, smiling.

Blaine smiled back. He was more nervous than Kurt. It was the first time they went to an official event as a couple and he was excited about it, even more than he dared to admit to himself. And although he didn't want to admit it, he was also kind of proud to have a very smart and good-looking husband to introduce to the important people who would be there. Some of with whom he had probably shared a crazy night or two at some point.

"Let's go!" Blaine said, climbing out of the car.

Kurt took Blaine's arm and they walked together toward the door. There were a lot of photographers in line ready to take the official pictures. They both took a deep breath and reached the front door.

"Mr. Anderson! Could you stop for a picture?" A guy with a camera in hand asked as soon as they reached the door.

"Sure!" Blaine replied, smiling.

Kurt tried to keep walking and step back, but Blaine grabbed him tightly and pulled him closer to him. They guy took a picture of both of them together and while the other photographers kept taking pictures, he asked for Kurt's name.

"He's Mr. Kurt Anderson-Hummel, my husband." Blaine answered for Kurt.

Kurt just smiled shyly. It was weird to hear his married name for the first time. _Anderson-Hummel._ Deep down, he liked it—a lot.

Blaine started walking and Kurt followed him still pinned to his arm. "Sorry about that…" Blaine whispered, "but it's better that way, if we use just your name without my last name people could start to wonder why."

"Don't worry, _honey._ I don't mind." Kurt said, teasing him.

Blaine smiled broadly. The word _'honey'_ had now become some kind of cute joke between them.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt and Blaine reached the head table that was for some reason at the center of the ballroom. When they got there, Kurt saw a familiar face and gasped in excitement.

"What are you doing here!?" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Hello, baby! I came with Sam."

"Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I wanted to surprise you!"

"God! I'm so glad you're here!" Kurt said, hugging his friend tightly and clearly happy to see a familiar face in the flood of unknown faces.

"Hello, Mercedes." Blaine greeted her politely.

"Hi, Blaine! Hmmm, Sam was looking for you."

"Thanks…I'll go find him. Kurt, do you want to stay here, or do you want to go with me?" Blaine asked, not tearing his eyes away from Kurt.

"No, I'll stay here." Kurt said, still hugging his best friend.

"Okay, then I'll see you in a while."

"Sure."

Blaine left the table and got lost in the flood of people who were walking around the room and in between the thousands of tables.

"What was that?" Mercedes asked, while they both were taking a seat.

"What?"

"That! Why didn't you go with him? It's obvious he wanted you to go!"

"No, he did not." Kurt said, placing his napkin on his lap.

"Then, why did he ask you if you wanted to go with him?"

"To be polite? I don't know, sometimes he's weird."

Mercedes smirked and Kurt rolled his eyes, trying to change the subject as soon as possible. "But tell me about you! Have you finally said yes to Sam? Are you two dating already?"

"No."

"No? Why not? Poor Sam! He's been asking you out since before I married Blaine."

Mercedes laughed. It was true; Sam had been trying to go out with her for about three or four months from now.

"I don't know, I like this game of him trying to seduce me." She confessed.

"You're playing with fire and you could get burned." Kurt warned her. "You are aware that he may get tired of waiting, right? What if he meets someone new?"

"I know you're right…maybe one of these days I'll tell him yes."

"You're impossible." Kurt said, playfully rolling his eyes and smiling at his friend.

"I know…and what about you? Haven't you thought about dating someone?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"I'm a married man…I can't do that."

"I know, but well, you two are not a real marriage…maybe you should try going out with someone, it's been almost two years since Adam." Mercedes stated.

"I know, maybe later when all this marriage is over."

"Then why don't you just try to have a real relationship with Blaine, huh? He's handsome and-"

"No, no, no, no, no…I mean, yeah he's handsome, but we're just friends."

"But why not? You two are married, it would be only natural if you two fell in love."

"We are married, but we're just friends."

"I know you're just friends, but why not try to be something else? You two look cute together."

"I know, but it's not a good idea."

"Why not?" She inquired.

"First, because I think he's not into me." Kurt said.

"He's not? That's weird...I could swear you're wrong." Mercedes frowned.

"Really…he's not interested in me." Kurt said, sighing.

Mercedes frowned again and analyzing her friend's now somehow sad face, she asked, "and, are you interested in him?"

"Hmmm...no, I mean I like him, but I just see him as my friend…I'm just interested in getting a friendship out of all this."

"Why? I mean you two married for a reason, right? I know you were drunk and all that, but that day you must have liked something about each other that led you two to get married in the first place."

"I guess, but I don't want to spoil our friendship. He's a good friend."

"Why would you spoil it?"

"Because I do like him and I don't know, I feel that if I let my walls down there's a huge possibility that I may fall in love with him, you know?" Kurt confessed. "He's very different from what I originally thought...he's sweet, funny, smart and very lovable-"

"Who is very lovable?" Blaine asked. He was back on the table.

"Hmmm...a friend that I want to introduce to Mercedes." Kurt lied, completely flushed from head to toe.

"I thought she was dating Sam." Blaine said confused.

"We're not officially dating so…" Mercedes piped in, trying to help her friend.

Blaine smiled and shrugged. "Anyway…Kurt, could you come with me for a minute? I want to introduce you to some people."

"Sure."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt approached a group of people that were talking near the entrance of the event. They all looked very groomed and sophisticated, for Kurt it was clear that they all were dressed in their best clothes.

"Well, well, well…look at that! We finally have the pleasure of meeting Blaine's mysterious husband!" A guy in his nearly thirty exclaimed, smiling.

"Everybody, this is Kurt Anderson-Hummel, my husband." Blaine said, making the proper introductions. "Kurt, these are Matt, Daniel, Scott, and Harry some of the executives of the company, and this is Luisa, Matt's wife."

"Nice to meet you." The group said, greeting Kurt enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you all." Kurt replied, smiling politely.

"…Late at night, right in the corner of nowhere you'll see me shining, like a star in the darkness of the night…" Luisa said aloud, and everybody looked at her in confusion.

"That's the description of one of my paintings…how do you know that?" Kurt asked, recognizing the quote.

"Well, I happen to have that painting." She said.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's framing my living room." She added with a smile.

"He's the artist of that painting?" Matt asked to his wife.

"Yes."

"Wow, who would have thought that I have one of Blaine's husband masterpieces hanging in my living room?" He said, smiling broadly.

"It's a beautiful painting, I found it last year on the street art exhibition and I fell in love with it immediately." Luisa explained.

"I'm so glad you liked it!"

"You're a very talented man, Kurt! The way you play with your brush through the canvas and the way you express the deepest feelings with just a glimpse of color is breathtaking…you're a very lucky guy, Blaine." She said, winking at Blaine.

"I know I am." Blaine replied, smiling.

He was actually thinking that, indeed, Kurt was a very talented man. The description that Luisa had given about Kurt's work was exactly what Blaine had seen in the painting his husband was finishing last week.

"You should consider doing your own exhibition." She said, trying to keep up with the small talk.

"I'm actually working on that." Kurt confessed. "The Metropolitan Museum is giving me the chance to exhibit my work on December."

"Really? That's wonderful! Make sure to let me know the exact date so I can go. I'm one of your biggest fans…not the number one, because I'm sure Blaine has that spot already reserved, but I'm near the number one." She said, smiling warmly.

"Thanks, that's very flattering…and don't worry that I'll personally send you the invitation for the opening night."

Luisa clapped excited and Blaine smiled politely, though there was a small frown on his face. He knew nothing about Kurt's exhibition and for some reason that he didn't want to analyze too deeply, he needed to ask him why he had kept him away from such wonderful news.

"Well, guys! Kurt and I have some other guests to meet…see you all later!"

"Nice to meet you all!" Kurt said, smiling politely and following Blaine.

o-o-o-o-o

When they were a few feet away from the group of people, Blaine suddenly stopped and grabbed Kurt's arm. "Why haven't you told me about your exhibition?" He asked.

"Well, I thought you wouldn't want to go…besides the exhibition is on December and by then we'll already be divorced so…" Kurt said, as a matter of explanation.

"But by then, we'll still be friends, right?" Blaine asked hopeful.

"Yes…"

"Well, as your friend I would want to go…would you mind if I go?"

"No, not at all! Actually I would be thrilled if you were there with me."

"Then count on me!" Blaine said, smiling.

Kurt smiled broadly and in some silly impulse, he took Blaine's hand. Blaine smiled back and stroked Kurt's hand. They were holding hands and it didn't feel odd at all, on the contrary, it was comforting. They both were smiling at each other, and with the look on Blaine's eyes everyone could tell that he was very confused. He hadn't realized how important it was for him to have Kurt as his friend.

"Sorry for interrupting, sir." A guy suddenly said, clearing his throat and breaking the spell of the moment.

"Oh! Hi, Thomas! Didn't see you coming." Blaine said, releasing Kurt's hand. "You're not interrupting. We were just…talking. Thomas, this is Kurt, my husband."

"Nice to meet you, sir. Thomas Voight, Mr. Anderson's personal assistant." Thomas said, greeting Kurt by the hand and properly introducing himself.

"Hi, Thomas, but please call me Kurt."

"Kurt." Thomas repeated, smiling politely to his boss' husband.

"What is it, Thomas?" Blaine asked.

"Well, the Entrepreneur's magazine is here, sir. They want to take some pictures of you for their upcoming issue." Thomas informed.

"Okay, tell them that I'll be ready in a minute, just let me walk Kurt back to the table." He said, already grabbing Kurt's arm.

"Okay sir, but hmmm, they are requesting if they could take some pictures with your husband as well, sir. They saw you two together and they said they want to show that side of your life too, obviously only if you agree, sir."

Blaine stayed quiet for a minute. He really didn't care about showing that side of his life, but he wasn't sure about Kurt's opinion.

"Can I have a word in private with my husband, Thomas?"

"Certainly, sir…I'll come back in a minute."

Thomas left and Blaine, turning around to face Kurt, asked. "Do you want to do the pictures?"

"Are you giving me a choice?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Of course I am…if you don't want, I can tell them that I want to keep my private life away from the spotlight, but if you do want to do them, well…I think it could be fun."

Kurt smiled warmly. Blaine consideration towards him was touching. Kurt was discovering a side of Blaine that was not always a douche and he was liking that so far.

"Thanks for asking."

"You're welcome. Then, what do you want to do?"

"Hmmm, let's do the pictures." Kurt said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it can be fun. I've never done that before."

"Okay…"

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt were posing for the pictures with a lot of prying eyes around them; Sam and Mercedes were obviously among them.

"I think those two should at least try to go out someday…as a real couple." Mercedes suggested.

"Yeah, me too! I think Blaine really likes him."

"You do?"

"Yes, I'd never seen him glowing in front of anyone before…and look at him! He's shining!" Sam said, still looking at his friend.

Mercedes followed Sam's gaze and noticed that in fact Blaine was shining and so was Kurt. Her friend was smiling broadly and Blaine was looking at him with awe. They were holding hands and posing near the staircase, but you could tell that they were enjoying the time given more than they were supposed to.

"I think you're right, though I'm not sure if they are aware of what's happening between them." Mercedes said.

"Blaine sure is, though I think he's afraid to admit it." Sam said.

"Well, Kurt is too…in fact I'm sure he has feelings for him, though he says he doesn't."

"It's evident. You can see that right now…in both of them. I hope they realize about their feelings before it's too late." Sam murmured.

"Yeah…too bad we can't help them. They are too stubborn to listen to any of us."

"Completely." Sam said, smiling while watching his friend laugh at something that Kurt had just murmured into his ear.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Kurt arrived at their shared temporary home very late at night. The Gala had been a success and they both were very tired. They were getting ready to go to bed and changing into their pajamas.

"I'm going to sleep the whole day!" Kurt confessed.

"Yeah, me too." Blaine agreed.

"I didn't know it was so tiring to greet so many people…how can you do this every year?"

Blaine laughed while putting on his t-shirt. "Well, I've only done it for three years. My dad was the one who used to take care of this kind of events."

"What happened to your dad?" Kurt asked curiously.

Blaine had never talked about his family with anyone; that was a wound that was still open. The only time they had started talking about families, Blaine had changed the subject abruptly and left Kurt with more questions wandering on his mind.

"I don't like to talk about my family." Blaine said.

"I know that, you're always trying to avoid the subject, but can I ask you why?"

"No…I'd rather if you didn't."

"Okay…don't worry, I won't ask if you don't want me to, but if you ever feel ready to talk about them, just know that I'm here for you, okay? I can listen and I won't judge you." Kurt replied cautiously, getting into his side of the bed.

Blaine lay down too and turned off the lights. His heart was beating faster and his hands were sweating. Every time he thought about his family his body reacted in that same way.

"Maybe someday…but not today." Blaine whispered.

"Don't worry…we have time." Kurt said, smiling.

"Yeah…"


	5. Chapter 5

Another month went by and the things between Kurt and Blaine were nearly the same. Blaine was busy at work and Kurt was trying to equally split his time working at the museum and at home preparing his own exhibition. It was a Friday evening of a very beautiful fall day and Kurt was getting ready to go to a party when his phone suddenly rang.

"Hi Rachel, what's up?" He said, immediately picking up.

_"Are you coming or not?"_

"Of course I'm coming! I'm almost on my way…Why did you think I would not go?"

_"'Cause it's late and you're not here!"_

"It's not that late…give me 10 more minutes and I'll be there, okay?"

_"Okay…I'll be waiting! I have a surprise for you!"_

"A surprise?"

_"Yes."_

"About what?"

_"Hurry up and you'll see!"_

Kurt hung up intrigued. He wanted to know what Rachel's surprise could be, so he grabbed a jacket and made his way out of the apartment.

o-o-o-o-o

The party was to commemorate Rachel's PhD graduation. Rachel was a very successful chef and had just obtained a PhD in high cuisine. Kurt arrived at his old apartment and greeted everybody in there. It was so good to be back home, to so many familiar faces.

"There he is! The married man!" Jesse St James, Rachel's boyfriend, exclaimed.

"Hi, Jesse!"

"Hello, Kurt! How's marriage treating you?" Jesse said, teasing Kurt.

"Pretty good…thanks." Kurt said, smiling and rolling his eyes at his friend.

"Leave my little brother alone, St James, or tonight you'll be sleeping in the bathtub!" Rachel said, approaching the boys.

"But, we don't have a bathtub, baby." Jesse replied, trying not to laugh.

"I know, but you get the picture." She said, smiling at him.

"It's okay, Rachel! He's not bothering me. Come here and give me a hug! Congrats, girl! I'm so proud of you!" Kurt said, giving Rachel a big bone-crushing hug.

"Thanks, Kurt! I couldn't have done any of this without your amazing support so thank you!"

"You deserve all of it girl! And because I'm so proud of you I brought you a gift!"

"Really? What is it?" She asked excitedly.

"Well…here it is!" Kurt said, giving Rachel a painting with a big pink ribbon on it.

"Oh my God, Kurt! It's the Waterfall painting!"

"Yes…I know you wanted it, so it's yours now."

"I can't accept this! You have your exhibition in a couple of months, you better keep it. I'm sure you need it more than I do!"

"Nonsense…you saw it, you liked it and it's yours."

"Oh my God! You really didn't have to do this!"

"Of course I had to! You're one of my best friends and I want you to have it!"

"But it's your painting!"

"No, it's not, now is yours…look! It has your name on it." He said, pointing to the inscription he had written for her at the back.

"But your exhibition…"

"Don't worry about that…I have different plans for the exhibition and believe me, this kind of painting doesn't fit the concept."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

"Okay, I'll keep it just because I loved it!" She said, smiling and hugging Kurt again.

Rachel and Kurt loved each other deeply. Rachel had been his friend since high school and to top that, she had been Finn's girlfriend until his last day, so in a way they considered each other family.

"Kurt! Hi!" Mercedes said, approaching them.

"Hi, girl! How are you?"

"I'm fine, and you? Where's Blaine?"

"Fine…he's at work, he said he'd probably show up later along with your new boyfriend." Kurt said, smirking playfully.

"Oh stop, Kurt! We've been dating for two weeks now and going out for months, we're like an old married couple to this point."

Kurt laughed.

"Look, Mercedes! Look at the painting Kurt just gave me! Isn't it awesome?" Rachel said, showing the painting to her friend.

"Wow! It's wonderful, Kurt! You've certainly surpassing yourself!"

Kurt blushed. "Thanks!"

"Mercedes is right, Kurt! You're getting better and better with every painting!"

"Thank you, girls!" Kurt said, completely flushed. He hated—but loved it—when people praised his work.

"I'll go hang this in my room." Rachel said, walking away with Jesse. Mercedes and Kurt stayed by the door contemplating the whole party.

"Come!" Mercedes said, pulling Kurt towards the kitchen. "Let's grab some food. The desserts Rachel made are terrific! You must try the cheesecake! You're gonna love it!"

o-o-o-o-o

Sam and Blaine arrived to the party a couple of hours later. Everybody was distracted so nobody noticed them.

"Hi, guys! Glad you came!" Rachel said, greeting them both by the door.

"Congratulations, Rachel! Way to go!" Sam said, hugging her and handing her a small box.

"Yeah, congrats!" Blaine added, giving her a bottle of the best wine he could find at the store he had just gone to a few minutes ago with Sam.

"Thank you, guys…but come on! Walk in! Make yourself at home!" The brunette said, letting them in.

Sam entered and almost immediately started greeting everybody; he was comfortable around them, after all he knew almost everyone in the room. Blaine, on the other hand, hardly knew anyone; he recognized some faces, Mercedes and Rachel, Kurt's former roommates. The Asian girl with her Asian boyfriend, the guy in the wheelchair whose name he could not remember but that he knew was pretty famous, and obviously Kurt. He rushed into the crowd and reached his husband.

"Hi, there!" He exclaimed.

"Oh! Hi, Blaine! I'm glad you came!" Kurt said, sounding genuinely pleased to see his friend there.

Blaine smiled and looked at the guy in the wheelchair. He knew him because he had gone to his party, but he couldn't recall if they had been properly introduced, and if they had, he didn't remember it.

"Blaine this is Artie…Artie, this is Blaine." Kurt said.

"Nice to meet you again, Blaine…I don't know if you remember me, but you got married at my party."

"Yeah, I remember…hi, Artie." Blaine said, smiling politely and greeting him.

Blaine sat next to Kurt and smiled at him. He was not comfortable and Kurt knew it.

"How was your day?" Kurt asked, making some small talk between them to help Blaine relax a little.

"Hmmm fine, I had some business to attend, but nothing new to report…and yours?"

"Fine, I left the museum after lunch because I still had to finish Rachel's gift."

"The new painting?"

"Yeah, she loved it!"

"Of course she'd love it, it's wonderful…very different from that other one you were painting last month, but still amazing."

"Thanks." Kurt said, smiling warmly.

"Where did she put it?"

"In her room…you want to see it?"

"Sure." Blaine said, smiling.

o-o-o-o-o

Mercedes and Sam were trying their best at the improvised karaoke that was set on the party. Kurt and Blaine were laughing loudly at them.

"God! Sam is really ruining the song." Blaine told Kurt who couldn't stop laughing.

"Completely." Kurt agreed, still laughing.

"Though she's very good. Sam had told me about her voice, but I never thought she would be «that» good."

"She's very talented." Kurt said, smiling proudly at his friend.

"Since when do you two know each other?"

"Since high school…she, Rachel and I were the dynamic trio. We were inseparable since then, we still are."

"So, you all have been friends since then?"

"Yes, more than a decade from now."

"Wow…that's a very long time."

"Yeah…we're almost like family."

"I've noticed that…Rachel even calls you her brother?"

"Well, she calls me like that because once I almost became her brother."

Blaine looked at Kurt puzzled. He was not following him.

"How's that?" He asked.

"She was engaged to Finn."

"Your brother? Really?"

"Yeah, they were together since high school until he died."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, they were glued since the day they met."

"It must have been very hard for her when he died."

"Yeah, it was a very hard time for her. She locked herself for two months…I thought she'd never overcome that loss."

"How did she do it?"

"I think my brother helped her."

"But how? He was dead." Blaine said, not understanding anything.

"Yeah, but one day Noah, Finn's best friend, came here and gave her a box that my brother had left her with some stuff...and right after that, she started moving on."

"What was in the box?" Blaine asked curiously.

"I don't know, she didn't tell anybody. I asked Noah, but he said the box was closed and apparently only she had the key. But knowing how Finn was, I'm sure that the box contained what she needed to hear from him."

Blaine smiled warmly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Well, from what you have told me about your relationship with your brother, you two seemed to be very close even though you were not biological brothers…are you okay that she's with someone else now?" Blaine asked, looking at Rachel who was kissing her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I mean…I'm not going to deny that when Jesse appeared in her life it was a shock for everyone, because it was, even for her. I always thought she'd be my sister in law, but then when Finn got sick and died, I realized that she'd have to go away from my family at some point. We still consider her part of our small family, but we know Finn wouldn't want her to be alone and Jesse is a good guy. He knows what happened with Finn and is aware that he'll never be able to replace him, and he's okay with that. I know that a part of Rachel died along with my brother, but the part that's still alive in her needs to move on. She deserves to be happy…and Jesse seems to make her very happy, so I'm happy too."

Blaine didn't say a word. He was speechless. Every time he asked Kurt something about his life and friends he felt lost. The way Kurt handled every aspect of his life surprised him. He didn't know what to say or do. He just stared at him with clear awe in his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kurt asked.

"Like what?"

"Like that…like if you were, I don't know…surprised? Proud?"

"Well, I don't know, I guess in a way I'm kinda-"

"Kurt!" Rachel said, sitting down next to Kurt and interrupting their conversation.

Blaine quickly looked away flushed. He didn't know what had just happened to him, but he was happy that Rachel had interrupted. Sam showed up too and Blaine smiled at him suddenly relieved that both Rachel and Sam had stopped his sudden lost of mind.

"What is it Rachel?" Kurt asked annoyed, knowing that now, thanks to his friend, he'd never know what Blaine was about to say.

"Do you remember that I told you I had a surprise for you?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah…are you going to tell me what is it? Or do I need to keep waiting?"

"Well, the surprise is that I arranged you a blind date! I want you to meet someone!"

"Wait! What?" Kurt asked surprised. He wasn't expecting that.

"Look, Jesse has a friend that just arrived to the city and well, he's nice, lovely and extremely handsome. His name is Elliott and he's a photographer! I met him the other day and I'm sure you two are meant to be together. He's just like you in so many ways that I'm sure you two are going to hit it off immediately. You've been alone for some time and well, when I was talking to him he mentioned something about finding love and yada, yada, yada, so I told him about you, and guess what? He's totally dying to meet you! I invited him tonight! He'll be here any minute now."

"But I'm married." Kurt said in self-defense. He hated blind dates.

"I know that, and he knows it too. I told him the whole story and he totally understands. He said you two didn't need to hurry into the dating stuff right away, he wants to meet you first and see how you two get along."

"But…"

"Kurt, you need to find someone! You can't be alone forever! Since Adam you've been alone and the night you decided to give it a try, you married the wrong guy! You're a very handsome, talented and wonderful man! You deserve to be happy!"

"I know, but-"

"Don't start with the same shenanigans, Kurt!"

"I'm not starting with anything! It's just that well…" He said, slightly touching his ring. He was not sure if he wanted to meet someone new. He was okay with the way he was now.

Rachel noticed his reaction and completely misunderstanding the meaning behind it, she said. "Don't worry about that Kurt, in three months you'll be a free man, it's only natural that you start meeting new people."

"Yeah, I know, but I really-"

"But nothing! You're going to meet him and give it a try! You can't be alone forever!"

"Rachel, I really don't think it's the best idea." Kurt said, being completely honest.

"Why not?"

"I don't know…I think that right now I don't need to find-" Kurt was saying when she interrupted him.

"Oh, look! He's here! Come on! Let me introduce you!" She said, pulling Kurt out of the couch.

Kurt very hesitantly stood up and followed her. Blaine, who had heard the whole conversation, clenched his jaw and drank his shot of tequila in one gulp.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was seated alone at the kitchen table playing with a wine cork. He was scowling and mumbling to himself when Sam sat next to him.

"Are you okay, buddy?" He asked.

"No." Blaine snapped, not even looking up to meet his friend's eyes.

"What is it?"

"I'm mad."

"Why?"

"I don't know..." Blaine said, shrugging.

Sam looked at him puzzled. Blaine avoided Sam's eyes and continued playing with the cork.

"We're brothers, Blaine. You can trust me; remember that I'm the only one besides your mom, of course, that knows you completely. Tell me what is it? Why are you mad?"

"I really don't know."

"How's that?"

"Well, lately I've been feeling lost, I don't know what's going on with me." Blaine said, sighing and looking quickly at Kurt.

Kurt was animatedly talking to the guy that Rachel had introduced him. He looked happy. He was laughing loudly and the guy was smiling at him with some flirty eyes. Sam followed Blaine's gaze and smiled in understanding.

"Oh! I get it! It's about Kurt!"

"No, it's not." Blaine said, lowering his gaze "Well, maybe…I really don't know what's going on with me lately! Forget it! Let's go and get some drinks!"

"But you need to figure out what's happening with you. The drinks can wait, let's talk." Sam said, trying to make his friend to finally talk and face his feelings.

"No, forget it! I'm fine! I'm just a little annoyed because I think Kurt is jeopardizing our charade, but I'll talk to him later."

Sam rolled his eyes and shrugged. He knew Blaine like his own soul and was aware that once his friend said that the conversation was over it was really over, and there was nothing he could do to change it.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt had just finished singing a duet with Elliott at the improvised karaoke. They had done an amazing job and everybody was clapping.

"Who would have guessed that you could sing, Kurt!? I think Rachel forgot to tell me that about you." Elliott said.

"I'm not a singer." Kurt said, all flushed.

"Well, for not being a singer, you're very good at it!"

"Thanks." Kurt said, blushing again. They were walking to the kitchen to get another drink when Kurt saw Blaine having some trouble while opening the bathroom's door.

"Could you excuse me for a second? I need to talk to Blaine." He said to Elliott. "See you later, okay?"

"Okay, but don't take too long. We need to sing another song…I'm thinking about Rockstar by A Great Big World!"

"I love that song! Don't worry I'll be back soon."

Kurt walked away and reached Blaine. Blaine was literally talking to the door and laughing at himself.

"Please dear door, stop moving and let me open you! I need to pee!"

"Are you alright, Blaine?" Kurt asked, surprising him.

"Jesus, Kurt! You startled me! Yeah, I'm fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Totally, I'm fine! I'm just having some…hmmm, difficulties with the door, but I have everything under control…you can go now, I'm fine." Blaine said, raising his voice a little bit too much.

"Oh God! You're drunk." Kurt said, recognizing the tone in Blaine's voice and the look in his eyes.

"No, I'm not. Yes, I had some drinks, but I'm not drunk. I still can remember who you are and where we are." Blaine said, smiling goofily.

Kurt rolled his eyes. Blaine was obviously drunk and Kurt knew what could happen when Blaine lost control.

"Don't roll your eyes at me...I hate when you do that, I hate that about you." Blaine said.

"You do?" Kurt asked a little wounded.

"Yes! It's like if you were judging me! I don't like that...I don't like to feel judged by anyone, especially by you. I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm just having fun! Why don't you go and do the same thing, huh?"

"You want me to go get drunk and start talking to the doors?" Kurt asked, enjoying the little chat with the drunken version of Blaine.

"I already told you, I'm not drunk! And obviously, I wasn't talking to the door...I was just talking to myself."

"Blaine, I think we better go. You're not okay…come on! Let's go! I think you had enough for tonight, give me the car keys."

"Stop it. You don't need to do this. I'm fine and I can take care of myself. I don't want to go. Maybe you're right and I'm a bit drunk, but I'll be fine, I just need to pee!"

Kurt laughed. Blaine was dancing and looking at the bathroom's door with urge.

"Okay, then go and pee…I'm not stopping you."

"Thanks." Blaine said, trying to open the door without any success.

"You need help with that?" Kurt asked, trying not to laugh.

"No, I got it! Look!" Blaine said, finally grabbing the doorknob.

"Okay, but if you want, we can go at any moment…just let me know, okay? I can drive us home." Kurt said, smiling warmly at him.

"I know, but don't worry! I'm fine! You can go and have fun! I don't want to ruin your night…I'm fine. You don't need to pretend you care about me…everyone in here knows the truth, so there's no need to keep the charade on."

"I'm not pretending, Blaine…I do care about you…you're my friend." Kurt said.

"Well, I'm fine, Kurt! Go and keep enjoying yourself…I'll be fine."

"Okay…I guess I'll see you later then."

"Yeah…"

o-o-o-o-o

When Blaine came out of the bathroom Kurt was talking with Elliott near the karaoke, they were laughing at something that Elliott had said. Blaine felt a pinch in his gut, but pretended not to care because Sam was approaching him.

"Hey, buddy! Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, a lot…" Blaine said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but failing. "And you?"

"Tons…but I wanted to tell you that I'm staying here for the night with my girl, so you don't have to take me home after."

"Okay, no problem."

"What is it? You look weird."

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"I think you're not. You know? Though you haven't told me anything yet, I'm sure you're mad because you're jealous of that Elliott guy…what I don't understand is, why don't you just go and tell Kurt the truth? Tell him you're jealous of Elliott and be happy!"

"I'm not jealous." Blaine said, lowering his gaze to hide his blush.

"Buddy, since Rachel introduced Kurt to that guy, you've been looking at them like a hawk!" Sam said, rolling his eyes at his friend.

"I was not looking at them."

"Are you sure? There's nothing wrong with you having feelings for someone for the first time! It's fine, buddy! Besides Kurt is a good guy!"

"Shut up, Sam! I'm not feeling anything! I just like him as my friend, that's all! I have told you that like thousandths of times before!"

"Okay, I'm going to pretend that I believe you, but really, if you're feeling something for Kurt, you need to tell him! Maybe later is going to be too late." Sam said, looking at Kurt who was now singing another song with Elliott. They both looked very happy.

Blaine looked at them too and his jaw tightened. Sam walked away and Blaine stayed there just staring. Elliott was flirting with Kurt and very deliberately was taking his hand and smiling at him. At some point during the song, Elliott winked at him and Kurt winked back. Blaine looked at the whole scene and without thinking it twice; he grabbed his jacket, searched his car keys and left the party without saying goodbye.


	6. Chapter 6

A whole week had passed since Rachel's party. Kurt and Blaine hadn't spent a lot of time together since then. Something was weird between them. Kurt had tried to talk to him, but it had been impossible. Blaine was always working or coming home late, and Kurt was already asleep.

On Saturday morning, Kurt was making some breakfast and hoping to finally have some time to talk to Blaine when the latter came out of the room already dressed and ready to go.

"Good morning, Blaine! I made some breakfast, you want some coffee?"

"Hi, good morning…hmmmm, I'm afraid I can't stay. I have a business appointment."

"But it's Saturday…and we haven't had time to talk all week." Kurt said.

"I know, but I have this appointment that I can't put off…sorry."

"I don't know why, but I don't believe you." Kurt frowned.

"Why not?"

"Well, maybe because the whole week you've been avoiding me? I don't know why or if I did something wrong or what, but you're acting weird with me since last Sunday."

"I'm not acting weird…I'm just very busy, that's all. Besides I don't know why you're bringing this up, it's not like if you had to talk to me everyday, you've been going out with this Elliott guy, haven't you? I'm sure you have enjoyed your week without talking to me."

Kurt looked at him puzzled. He didn't understand why Blaine had to bring Elliott to their little conversation.

"What does he has to do with any of this?"

"Well, it sounds as if you were reproaching me for not having been home this week and you make it sound like if you need to talk to me every day and that's a lie, because it's evident that you have enjoyed your time outside this house…and without me."

Kurt frowned. "What are you talking about? We're friends and of course I like talking to you, it's not like if I _need_ to do it every day, but we live together, we share the same room, don't you think it's kind of normal to talk in the daily basis? We haven't talked all week!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm a busy man. I need to run my own company and believe me or not, I have business to attend even on weekends…but go out and have fun with your new friend and talk to him all you want. I'm sure he has all the time in the world for you."

"Are you mad at me because I met someone? Are you punishing me because I have a new friend?"

"No, of course not…you can do whatever you want with your life, I don't care."

"What's wrong with you? We're friends, right? And friends care about each others lives…If I didn't know you, I'd say you're just jealous of Elliott and that you're making stuff up to try to stay away from me…though I don't know why."

"Nothing is wrong with me! And yes, we're friends and I care about you, and obviously I'm not jealous of anyone, why would I be? I'm just busy, that's all…we're still friends."

"Okay, I'll believe you and if that's true and you're still my friend and nothing is wrong between us, I'm sure you won't mind to come home in time for dinner, won't you?"

"I don't know if I can."

"I'm sure that as my friend you can make an effort, right?"

"I'll try."

"Okay, I'll see you for supper then."

"Yeah, whatever…I gotta go! I'm already late…bye!"

"Bye."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine arrived at Sam's apartment knocking the door desperately, but nobody opened. Taking out his phone, he decided to call him. Sam was usually at home on weekends, especially in the mornings.

_"What's up, buddy?"_

"Hi, Sam! I'm outside your house, open the damn door!"

_"Sorry, bud, but I'm not at home…I came to visit my family with Mercedes."_

"You're in Kentucky?" Blaine asked surprised.

_"Yes…we took a flight yesterday."_

"Wow, you're very serious with that girl…I'm glad for you, Sam. Say hi to your mom and give Steve and Stacey a big hug from me, okay?"

_"Yeah, sure! Though my mom asked me why haven't you called her to tell her about your wedding and she told me to warn you."_

"What?"

_"That if you don't call her soon, she'll call your new husband. She wants details."_

Blaine laughed. "Okay, don't give her his number. I'll call her soon, I promise."

_"Okay, see you on Monday, buddy!"_

"Yeah, have fun and say hi to Mercedes as well."

_"Yeah, sure…see ya!"_

"Bye!"

Blaine hung up and cursed his bad luck. He had lied about his Saturday work appointment because he was counting on having Sam there to save the farce, but now without Sam he needed to find another excuse to be away from home all day. He didn't want to admit that, in fact, he was trying to stay away from Kurt as far as possible.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine drove until he found a decent bar in the middle of the city. He entered and ordered a drink. He was seated drinking alone near the bar when a cute guy approached him.

"Hey, there handsome! Would you mind if I sit next to you?" The guy said, flashing his crooked smile.

Blaine looked at him surprised. The guy was handsome, tall, with copper hair, beautiful green eyes and a white-toothed smile.

"Hmmm…no, not all. Be my guest." He said, pointing to the stool next to him.

"My name is Sebastian Smythe…do you have a name? Or should I just call you flawless?"

Blaine laughed a little. This guy had no filter when hitting on someone. "Nice to meet you Sebastian, my name is Blaine, Blaine Anderson." Blaine said, shaking hands with Sebastian.

Sebastian smiled at him broadly. "Blaine Anderson of Anderson & Partners?" He asked shocked.

"Yes, the very same."

"Well, tell me which winds brought a man like you to this humble bar?"

Blaine smiled and shrugged finishing his drink in one gulp.

"Never mind, I'm more curious to know what makes you drink like that at 11am in the morning?" Sebastian asked again.

Blaine didn't answer and just smiled shrugging again. "Please, bring me more ice…and leave the bottle." Blaine said to the bartender.

"Well, you look kind of sad, but no completely depressed, so there are just a couple of options here…someone close to you died or you're trying to forget something…or someone."

Blaine looked at him puzzled. The guy was nice, and he needed to talk to someone so he offered him a drink.

"Do you want to drink something?"

"Hmmm…yes, why not? I like martinis." Sebastian said, winking.

"A martini for my friend please…add it to my bill." Blaine said to the bartender.

"Thanks." Sebastian added, smiling flirtatiously.

The bartender gave Sebastian a martini and brought the bottle of scotch for Blaine. Blaine poured himself another drink and raised his glass.

"Here's to you Sebastian, may your life be far less complicated than mine."

Blaine finished the drink in one single gulp again while Sebastian just took a small sip of his drink.

"You want to talk? You don't look fine. I have time…sometimes is good to talk to strangers." Sebastian suggested.

Blaine looked at him confused, but without hesitation started to talk. His chest felt like if it were about to explode. "I hate my life! Lately I don't even know what's wrong with me! I thought I had everything under control, but I'm realizing now that I am completely lost, and I don't know what to do or how to feel. I've never experienced something like this before, and I'm afraid."

Sebastian smiled at him and carefully, took Blaine's arm and started stroking it in a tender way. "Don't worry, I'm sure that whatever that is happening in your life it has a solution, why don't we sit in one of the tables? I think we're going to be more comfortable there."

Blaine nodded and grabbed his bottle of whiskey. Sebastian walked away and sat at one of the tables at the far end of the place. Blaine followed him and crashed into one of the couches at the table. Sebastian smiled and moved so he could be seated next to him.

"Okay, Blaine…now that we're more comfortable, tell me...what's wrong with you?"

Blaine sighed. "I'm married to the most wonderful and amazing man in the whole fucking planet and I feel miserable!"

"You're married?" Sebastian asked stunned. He was clearly not expecting that.

"Yes! I'm a married man." Blaine answered, drinking another glass of whiskey and raising his hand so Sebastian could see the ring.

"And you feel miserable? Why? Don't you love him?"

"I don't know, I thought I didn't love him, but now I'm not sure…maybe I'm in love with him, but then again, what do I know about love?"

"Wait, you married a man you don't love, but now you think you love?" Sebastian questioned confused.

"Yes…" Blaine answered, drinking again. "I married a man I didn't love and now I think I love."

"I'm not getting anything…why don't you tell me the whole story from the beginning? Maybe I can help you." Sebastian said, smirking at him.

"Okay…" Blaine said, having another drink.

Sebastian was looking at him with intense eyes. His intentions were clear, but Blaine didn't seme to be noticing them. He was so desperate to finally be able to speak that he didn't pay attention to those small details, but it was clear that Sebastian had one goal in his mind...to get into Blaine's pants.

"Almost four months ago I went to a party and I met a guy, his name is Kurt, he's an artist-"

"Artist? Like the painting kind of artist or a celebrity?"

"He's a painter, and he's very talented! You should see what he can do with a brush! He's brilliantly creative!" Blaine said, smiling proudly at his husband's painting skills.

"I suppose…and what happened with him?"

"We got married the very same day we met. We were drunk, so I really don't remember anything, I just remember waking up next to him with a ring on my finger and a marriage certificate to prove it."

"Is that even possible here?" Sebastian asked confused.

"Yeah, apparently we made some arrangements and we were able to get married the very same day."

"Why didn't you get a divorce right away?"

"Because we couldn't, we have to pretend we're married for six months to get the divorce without any trouble."

"Okay...and then, why are you so miserable?"

"I don't know…I have mixed feelings towards him. At the beginning I hated him, and the idea of being married to him was repulsive. He was always teasing me, making fun of me and suffocating me, but then we became friends and I realized that I actually liked all that stuff about him and now, though we're still married, he's dating another guy and I hate him for that. And I hate my life and that's why I'm here drinking with you on a Saturday morning instead of being with him at home enjoying his company."

"So you're mad because you don't want to be just his friend?"

"I think you got it right."

"Then, why don't you tell him that?"

"Because he only sees me as his friend and he's with this guy."

"But maybe he has feelings for you too."

"No, he doesn't have feelings for me. He has never smiled at me the way he did it with that guy! And I love his fucking smile!"

"So your big problem is that you're in love with your husband and he doesn't love you back."

"Exactly."

"Well, that's sad, and clearly this Kurt guy is fully blind because I'm sure you're more handsome than the other guy."

Blaine chuckled and poured another drink. The bottle was almost half way through. Sebastian smiled at him and started making small talk.

"Okay, why don't you forget a little bit about this husband of yours and we talk about other stuff instead? You need to relax a little." He said, stroking Blaine's arms.

"Okay…"

"Tell me more about you...what do you like to do? Do you have many friends? Do you travel a lot?"

Blaine had another drink and smiled warmly. He started talking and without noticing, time flew by.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt was waiting for Blaine to come home. He was reading an old book to kill some time. The clock was ticking 6:30pm when Kurt heard Blaine stumbling at the entrance.

"Fuck!" Blaine exclaimed. He was fully drunk.

"Blaine? Oh my God! What's wrong with you?" He asked worried.

"Oh! Hey, honey! I'm home! Just like I promised!"

"Oh, Blaine! Why are you drunk?"

"Am I? No, I'm not! Look, I'm fine!" Blaine said, trying to remain motionless without succeeding.

Kurt rolled his eyes and tried to help Blaine to sit on the couch. Blaine started laughing and pulled Kurt closer to him. They stumbled over the couch, Kurt on his back and Blaine on top of him.

"Did you know you're the most handsome and gorgeous man I know? I'm a very lucky man…oh yes, I am." Blaine said.

"Shut up, Blaine! Let me help you get to the room." Kurt said, sitting down properly on the couch.

"No, I don't want to go there…let's stay here, just you and me…I've missed you."

Kurt looked at Blaine confused. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but deep inside, he liked the way Blaine was looking at him.

"Why did you get drunk?" Kurt asked.

"Because I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Not of what…of whom?" Blaine corrected him.

"Afraid of whom?" Kurt asked again.

Blaine laughed. "Of you, of course!"

"Of me?"

"Yes…" Blaine said, smiling coyly and caressing Kurt's face. Kurt was paralyzed. His heart was pumping loudly and he blushed.

"Your cheeks are red and I like that." Blaine said, caressing Kurt's cheeks again. Tracing his thumbs above the red spots.

Kurt rolled his eyes and was about to say something when his phone rang. He stood up immediately and took his phone from the dining table. He looked at the screen with a puzzled expression. The display said, _Blaine Anderson_. He looked confused at Blaine who was muttering some unintelligible words from the couch. The whole scene was weird. He hesitated a little, but the curiosity to know who could have Blaine's phone won, so he took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Yes?"

 _"Hi, there! Can you tell Blaine that he forgot his phone with me, please?"_ Someone said at the other side of the line. Kurt was speechless.

"Who…who are you? And why do you have _my husband's_ phone?" Kurt asked, recovering his voice.

_"Oh, sorry about that…I'm Sebastian. Blaine knows who I am and where to find me…tell him I'll be waiting, okay? Thanks again…Hmmm...Kurt."_

The line went dead and so did Kurt's smile. He looked at Blaine with resentfulness.

"It was your new friend Sebastian." He said angrily.

"Oh! Say hi for me!" Blaine said, smiling from the couch.

"Screw you, Blaine! I thought you had changed! But I was wrong! You're the same stupid silly boy with no feelings for anyone but yourself! Why did you lie to me? I thought you were working, but no you were just getting drunk and fucking some random guy! If you didn't want to have dinner with me you could have told me! You don't need to be my friend if you don't want to!"

"I didn't fuck him! Ugh...and I don't know why you are so mad at me. I met him today in a bar, so what? I can have friends too! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"That's the problem with you, Blaine! You never do anything wrong! For you everything you do is okay! But you're mistaken! You're throwing away everything!"

"I'm not doing that!"

"Yes, you are! But you know what? I don't care anymore! I'm tired of you! Do whatever you want!" Kurt said yelling. Maybe he was overreacting but he was mad, jealous and disappointed, so he didn't really care.

"Then, what are you doing here? Go away! You don't need to stay! Maybe you're right and I'm the same selfish man, so I don't need you! Go away and have fun with Elliott! Fuck him if you want! I don't fucking care!"

"You know what? That's exactly what I'm going to do! Thanks for the advice!"

"You're welcome!" Blaine yelled.

"I can't believe I actually thought you were different!" Kurt said, walking away toward the room.

"Old dog, same tricks, honey!" Blaine yelled back.

"You're right and you don't know how disappointed I am!" Kurt said, slamming the door behind him.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt cried and cursed and cried again. He was having this internal struggle that kept his mind and heart in a declared war. His brain knew why, but his heart didn't want to admit it. He needed some space. His mind couldn't put aside that sassy voice of that guy over the phone, and every time he remembered it, his heart clenched. Everything and everyone overwhelmed him. He felt like if he couldn't breath.

After some time Kurt came out of the room looking for Blaine. Blaine was sound asleep on the couch. Kurt looked at him with obvious disappointment in his eyes.

"Goodbye Blaine..." He whispered.

He left him a note, took his small suitcase and left the apartment.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine opened his eyes. It was late or early in the morning, he didn't know, he was confused. He looked at his clock and saw it was very early in the morning. He stood up from the couch and walked to the room. The bed was empty. He looked in the bathroom, but Kurt was not there either.

Then it hit him.

He remembered that they'd had a fight and got worried. He looked in the whole apartment, but Kurt was not there. He walked to the dining table and saw that the table was still set. He cursed himself. Kurt had prepared dinner so they could talk and enjoy some time together, and now he was gone. He saw a piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator's door and read it aloud.

_"Thanks for your advice, honey! I'll do exactly what you suggested…see you on Monday! PS: The food I prepared for us is in the fridge, serve yourself! Maybe you can invite your new friend Sebastian, who by the way, has your phone. He said you knew where to find him and that he'll be waiting! Have fun and don't make him wait any longer! The apartment is yours for the weekend, make good use of it."_

Blaine crushed the note and without knowing what to do, he started drinking again.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt arrived to the apartment on Monday morning. Everything was as he had left it. He walked into the room expecting to find Blaine, but he was not there. He recalled that sassy voice, the fight, the dinner, the note...and the stupid lump in his heart came back in full force. He shook his head and took a shower. He had to hurry up for work.

He had just arrived to his small office at the museum when his phone started ringing. He made a mental note that if it was Blaine he was going to ignore the call, but the display said, _Sam Evans._

"Sam?" Kurt asked confused, this was the first time Sam called him.

_"Hi, Kurt! Have you seen Blaine? He was supposed to be at a meeting this morning, but he didn't arrive. Do you know something?"_

"Hmmm, actually no. I was out of the apartment the whole weekend and I just arrived this morning and he was not there. Maybe he's with his new friend." Kurt said, sounding more bitter than he originally intended to.

_"His new friend?"_

"Yes, he met a guy in a bar on Saturday and I think they had a really great time." Kurt said, showing again his obvious discomfort.

 _"Oh I see...that's why you left?"_ Sam asked carefully.

"No, not at all...I had some things to do with some friends." He lied.

_"Hmmm...so the last time you saw Blaine, was he with this guy?"_

"No, he was dead drunk in the couch."

_"Has he been drinking?"_

"Yes."

_"That explains a lot. Thanks Kurt! I know exactly where he is…I guess I'll see you later."_

"Okay…bye." Kurt hung up, frowning a bit worried about Blaine.

o-o-o-o-o

Sam arrived to the apartment and using the spare key that Blaine had once given him, he opened the room inside the studio. Blaine was there completely unconscious. Sam woke him up by splashing some water on his face.

"Sam? Crap! What am I doing here?" Blaine said, as soon as he opened his eyes.

"Seriously, Blaine! This has to stop! You can't keep doing this! What happened this time? Since Kurt is here you hadn't drunk like this!"

"You were right, Sam."

"About what?"

"I have feelings for him." Blaine confessed.

"And that's why you got drunk? Because I was right?"

"No, I drank because I lost him…we had a fight on Saturday because I went for a drink with a guy whose name I can't even remember and he got mad, and then I got mad too and I said horrible things, and though I don't remember my exact words, I know I sent him to spend the night with Elliott."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, he left a note and now I can't tell him about my feelings because he doesn't want me in his life anymore…it's too late."

"You're being a little melodramatic, don't you think? I'm glad you have realized about your feelings for him, but drinking like this is not going to help you be near him."

"I know, he said he was disappointed…and I don't blame him."

"Neither do I."

"What am I gonna do?"

"First, take a bath…you smell like a fucking liquor store!"

Blaine shrugged and stood up reluctantly walking to his room. Sam was looking at him completely disappointed. If his friend didn't start fixing his life soon, he would cross the line where he was sure, there was no turning back.


	7. Chapter 7

Since last month's incident with Sebastian, alcohol and the whole jealousy fight, Blaine had remained sober. He had recovered his phone and everything was apparently in its place again. Blaine and Kurt were once again friendly with each other and though Blaine was still mad to hear Elliott's name popping here and there in every conversation, he had handled the situation quite well. Kurt, on the other hand, had _'forgiven'_ Blaine for his drinking episode and had tried very hard to forget what had happened with Sebastian without much success. His heart still clenched every time he recalled that day. Blaine had tried to explain what had really happened that afternoon, but Kurt had refused to hear the explanation.

He had said, _'Blaine, don't worry. You don't have to do it. I don't need explanations. It's alright. We're fine...Let's just forget about everything. No more Sebastian or apologies for that matter, okay?'_

But the truth was that he didn't want to hear it and he knew why, well at least a part of him knew why.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt arrived home on Friday night and discovered that Blaine was sick in bed. He was all pale, and kind of green, sweat was rolling down his face and Kurt got worried. Blaine really looked awful.

"Oh my God, Blaine! Are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know. I felt terrible earlier and I came home…I think it was something I ate."

Kurt came near the bed and very tenderly put his hand on Blaine's forehead to check if  he had fever. He was burning hot.

"Jesus! You have fever! Have you called a doctor?"

"No."

"Let me call it then."

"There's no need."

"Shut up!" Kurt said, rolling his eyes at him.

Blaine smiled warmly and saw Kurt looking for the doctor's number. After making the call, Kurt walked out the room without saying a word, and came back carrying a bowl with cold water and some small towels. He sat next to Blaine and put one wet towel on his forehead. Blaine just smiled sweetly at him.

o-o-o-o-o

"Well, Mr. Anderson, apparently you have a _campylobacter_ infection." The doctor informed them.

"Is that bad?" Kurt asked worried.

"In some cases it can be, but fortunately for your husband, he presented the symptoms on an early stage of the infection and since we were able to detect it on time, he will be fine in a couple of days…don't worry."

"I feel like if I were about to die…" Blaine added.

"It's normal, Mr. Anderson. You may be feeling a little sick until your body can get rid of what you ingested, but you'll be just fine. You'll have to take the antibiotics I'm prescribing and have a light diet for a couple of days, and you'll be fine."

"Give me the prescription doctor, I'll make sure he takes the medication." Kurt said.

"Okay, and also make sure that your husband sleeps well, eats lightly and drinks plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration."

"Don't worry doctor, I'll take care of him." Kurt said, giving Blaine a soft smile.

"Okay, then I'll let you rest Mr. Anderson. If you need something don't hesitate to call…have a good night."

"I'll walk you to the door." Kurt said, following the doctor out of the room.

o-o-o-o-o

After some minutes, Kurt returned to the room and found Blaine trying to get out of bed.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to go to the bathroom." Blaine said.

Kurt walked near the bed and tried to help him.

"I'm fine, Kurt. You don't need to do this. I know you have plans tonight with Elliott…I don't want to spoil your joy, go out and enjoy yourself, I'll be fine."

"Stop it, Blaine! I already cancelled that, you don't need to worry about my joy. I'm where I want to be…and besides, you're not fine, Blaine. You're almost green for heaven's sake! I'm not going to leave you alone!"

Blaine smiled warmly. "Thank you…for everything."

"Your welcome…now let me help you get to the bathroom."

"Okay."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine had a very rough night. He had fever and vomited several times during the night and Kurt stayed up all night taking care of him. In the morning, Blaine opened his eyes and heard that Kurt was on the phone with someone. He stayed in silence, trying to listen to the conversation.

"Yeah, he's not fine. He had a pretty rough night, but hopefully with the pills he'll be better soon." Kurt was saying to the person on the phone. "Yeah, I know! That was a shame and I feel bad that you missed that...I know, but you know me."

Blaine was not understanding the one-sided conversation, but kept listening anyway.

"I don't want to discuss that over the phone, he could be listening…" Kurt said, lowering his voice. "Shut up! I'll see you later, okay?" He added. "No, I'm not going…I'll stay here. The doctor said he could not be alone." Kurt said, as a matter of fact although Blaine knew the doctor hadn't said that. "Thanks Ell, I know you do and I really appreciate it." Kurt said.

Blaine flinched when hearing the _'Ell'_ pet name.

"Okay, I gotta go…see you…me too...bye!"

Kurt returned to the room and saw that Blaine was awake. Blaine was trying to smile at him, but his stomach was rumbling and aching, and his mind couldn't put aside the _'Ell'_ fond nickname.

"How are you feeling?"

"Awfully."

"Don't worry, you'll be better once you take a bath and your pills." Kurt said smiling.

"Yeah, and I really hope so…I hate to keep you trapped in here with me. Really, Kurt! If you need to go somewhere or something, just go. I'll be fine, you already did a lot for me, so…"

"Nonsense…I don't have any plans. I'll make some breakfast while you take a shower, okay? Call me if you need me."

"Yeah, thanks."

o-o-o-o-o

When Kurt returned to the room Blaine was already lying in bed. Kurt sat next to him and lay down too.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better."

"Are you hungry?"

"God! No, not at all! I can't stand food right now…I don't know if I'll be able to keep it in my stomach for two seconds." Blaine said, making a disgusted face with just the thought of food.

"Okay, fair enough, but you'll have to eat something later…and drink the tea I made for you." Kurt warned him.

"Maybe later, but right now I'm not hungry and I already drank that thing you call tea…have you had breakfast yet?"

"Yeah, I just ate."

"Good, I don't want you to get sick too."

"Don't worry about me…I'm fine!"

They remained silent for a little while. Something was wandering on Blaine's mind. He knew he had to say it and take full advantage of Kurt babysitting him.

"Kurt…"

"Yes?"

"I want to tell you something, but I don't want you to get mad."

"I won't...what is it?"

"I know you said that everything was in the past, but I need you to know that I didn't sleep with Sebastian."

"I know..."

"You do?"

"Yes..." Kurt said.

"Good, I just wanted to clear that up. You didn't give me the chance to explain anything." Blaine said, trying not to look at Kurt. They both had their eyes fixed to the ceiling.

"Well, I didn't and still don't want to hear it."

"Why not?"

Kurt shrugged and shook his head. The message was clear. He was not going to talk about that.

Blaine frowned. "Anyway, I was thinking that maybe you could invite Elliott over…I feel terrible for keeping you here watching over me! I was thinking that maybe he could come here, so you two can still have a bit of fun today. You can watch a movie or something. I promise not to interfere…I can stay here, the whole apartment will be just for you."

Kurt turned around and looked at Blaine directly in the eyes. Kurt was smiling broadly. Anyone could tell that he was starting to enjoy the conversation.

"Why are you so obsessed with Elliott?" Kurt asked, with a flirty voice.

"I'm not obsessed with him…I just know that you two, well, that you two are dating and I don't want to ruin your weekend…that's all." Blaine said, blushing a little.

Kurt started laughing loudly and Blaine just looked at him completely confused.

"I'm not dating Elliott." Kurt said, still laughing and clearly making fun of Blaine's confusion.

"You're not?" Blaine asked stunned.

"No." Kurt replied smirking.

"But, I don't understand…you two spend almost everyday together and you…you slept with him that weekend when I treated you like shit." Blaine said, as a matter of fact.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, I went to his apartment that weekend following your advice, but I didn't sleep with him. I was mad and maybe I exaggerated a bit with my note, but I just stayed at his home—on the couch. And yes, we spend almost everyday together because we are friends."

"Rachel and Mercedes are your friends too, and you don't spend all day with them."

"Well, I don't spend all day with them because Rachel and Mercedes don't work with me." Kurt explained.

"Wait! Elliott works at the museum?"

"Yes." Kurt replied, smirking again.

"Since when?"

"Since two days after I met him?"

"How?"

"When I met him, he told me we was looking for a job, I asked him about his profession and it turned out that besides being an awesome photographer, he has a degree in digital arts, and well...there was an open position at that time in the museum and he went to the interview and got the job, easy as that."

Blaine was confused and relieved at the same time. He was happy to know Kurt was not dating this Elliott guy, but he still found it hard to believe.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What?"

"That he was working with you."

"I tried, but after I met him you started acting weird with me and then we had that little drinking-Sebastian incident and after that I decided not to tell you anything because every time I brought Elliott to any conversation you got mad, so…"

"So, all this time you've only been friends?"

"Yes…"

"Why haven't you two date?"

"Because I don't like him that way?"

"You don't?"

"No, I mean…he's nice and handsome and very talented, but he's not for me."

"Why not? I mean, you are nice, handsome and talented too."

"Thanks for that, but I don't know, maybe that's why…maybe we're so alike that we're not compatible in that way…just like friends."

Blaine remained silent. He was trying hard to suppress his grin. He was happy to hear that Kurt was not interested in the photographer. On the other hand, Kurt was nervous. He felt exposed. He knew that Blaine would eventually realize that he could not see Elliott as anything but his friend because he was already interested in someone else, and Blaine could ask who this guy was and Kurt would have to tell him the truth. A truth that he was still denying to himself, so he ran away using a lame excuse.

"I'll go make you some chicken soup…I'll be back later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Call me if you need me. I'll leave the door open."

"Okay." Blaine answered smiling. He was suddenly feeling so much better.

o-o-o-o-o

It was late and Kurt was really tired, he hadn't slept last night and needed some rest. Blaine was already lying in bed, reading a book.

"How are you feeling?" Kurt asked. He sounded a bit tired.

"Fine." Blaine replied smiling. "You can sleep now, Kurt. You look exhausted…really, I feel so much better. I'm just not that tired, I guess I slept a lot during the day."

"Okay…but if you need me don't hesitate to wake me, okay? I won't get mad, but if you feel worse and you don't say anything, then you better run, because I'll be right after you with all my fury..." Kurt said, "and this time you'll end up in the hospital."

Blaine laughed. "Yes, don't worry. I value my life…I'll let you know if I feel bad." He said with a smile. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For taking care of me…it was really nice of you."

"You're welcome." Kurt said with sleepy eyes.

"Sleep, Kurt." Blaine said laughing, "…your eyes are already closing."

"Okay…" Kurt mumbled sleepy.

Blaine smiled at the sight of Kurt's peaceful face.

"Have sweet dreams." Blaine murmured, but Kurt was already asleep.

Blaine closed his book and lay down facing Kurt, admiring his beautiful and perfect face, until he fell asleep too.

o-o-o-o-o

On Sunday morning, Blaine was so much better. He had had a proper night of sleep and the fever had ceased. They had breakfast on the table and now they were sitting in the living room watching a movie. Once the movie ended, Kurt realized that they were seated closer than usual. Their bodies were touching and the space between them was practically nonexistent. In a tender and irrational move Kurt rested his head on Blaine's shoulder and Blaine froze.

"You know Blaine?"

"What?"

"I've always been curious to know your story with Sam…you're a very private person, but with him you seem to not have any secrets."

"Yes, he knows everything about me."

"How did you two meet?"

"It's a long story."

"We have time." Kurt said, hoping to know a bit more about Blaine's life.

"Okay…hmmm, well, everything began when my dad decided to start his own company. My father, Richard Anderson, and Sam's dad, Dwight Evans, were friends since high school and they used to work together in a publicity firm down in Brooklyn. When my grandfather died he inherited a lot of money to my dad, so he decided to use it to start his own publicity business."

"Anderson & Partners."

"Yes, he founded the company and invited Dwight to work with him. At the beginning he didn't accept the offer because he wanted to explore other jobs, so they just remained being friends and then Dwight married Sam's mom, Mary, and they moved out to Kentucky. The company became a success and my dad married my mom, Helen. Soon after that, my brother was born and I came three years later."

"You have a brother?" Kurt asked stunned. He didn't know a thing about Blaine's family.

"Yes, but please Kurt…don't ask me about them, okay? It's difficult enough for me to tell you this part of the story."

"Okay, I won't ask…but just remember that if you don't want to tell me any of this, there's no problem…you don't need to do it."

"I do want you to know…just be patient. This is the first time I talk about my life with someone else besides Sam and my own family…just don't ask about that other story, okay? I'm not ready to talk about them yet."

"Okay."

"Well, when I was four, Sam's family moved back to New York because they were having some financial problems and my dad helped them. Dwight and Mary were very desperate because they had a little boy who was just my age."

"Sam."

"Yes, and well, my dad gave Dwight a position at the company and took care of Sam's education."

"Really? That was a really sweet gesture."

"Yeah, and that's why I've known Sam almost all my life. We were really young when we became friends. At first we used to fight a lot, I remember that we were always bothering each other and we caused a lot of trouble. All the teachers in the school hated us and they used to take us to detention together since we were six years old."

"Detention at six?"

"Yes! We were troublemakers since then! You should have seen us!"

"I can picture you two perfectly." Kurt said smiling.

"Obviously, we became partners in crime and we have been inseparable since then. I learned to see him as my brother rather than as a friend…we went to every school together and we lived together when we were at college."

"You two were roommates?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe that! How did you two survive? I mean, how come you didn't kill each other?" Kurt asked, trying not to laugh.

Blaine laughed. "I don't know, I have asked myself that same question a thousand times before and I still don't know how that didn't happen. I guess that our friendship runs in the line of mutual respect and that helps. I know sometimes, well most of the times, he disagrees with some of the things I do or the decisions I make, but he respects me and I do the same for him."

"Yeah, I've seen that. Sam always talks about you with respect and he's very protective about your life. I think he's a very good friend."

"Yeah, he is."

"Your father also paid Sam's college?"

"Yes…though Sam was a very good student and had a scholarship."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Did he study marketing like you?"

"No, he got a degree in economics."

"Economics?" Kurt asked stunned.

"Yes, that's why he's the director of the financial department at Anderson & Partners."

"Really?"

"Yes, and he earned that position…he's a very talented and professional worker."

"You're proud of him." Kurt said, as a matter of fact. It was evident on Blaine's voice that he was beyond proud of his friend.

"I am…did you know that now he's taking care of his brother and sister's education?"

"Does he have siblings?"

"Yeah, Stevie and Stacey…I hope one day you can meet them. They are really great kids. Stevie is now in premed school and Stacey is at her senior year in some fancy high school in Kentucky."

"I didn't know Sam had siblings."

"Yeah…he doesn't talk about his family that much."

"What happened to his dad?"

"He died of a heart attack when we were starting college."

"I didn't know…and his mother?"

"She returned to Kentucky with Stevie and Stacey."

Kurt remained silent. There was something wandering on his mind and he didn't know how to bring that up.

"Hmmm, can I ask you something else?" He asked Blaine

"Yeah…just not about-"

"Your family, I know! Don't worry, it's not about them…it's about you and Sam."

"What is it?"

"Well, I'm curious, but please don't get me wrong. I just want to know because I know for experience that is something difficult to handle."

"What?"

"How did you two manage the fact that...well, you're gay and he's not?"

"Well, we always knew we didn't like the same things. I'm not going to lie and tell you that I always knew I was gay because that's not the truth. I already told you that when I was in high school I dated a lot of girls, but one day I realized that girls were not my thing and it was a really hard time for me. I was so desperate that I forced myself to believe that I was just having a phase, but Sam helped me see that I was fooling myself."

"How?"

"Well, it's a funny story…I hadn't had sex like never, so one day I decided it was time. I remember that Sam was at my house waiting desperately to know all the details so when I arrived he asked me how it had been and I couldn't hide my depressed face, so he said something like, _'she didn't want to have sex with you'_ …and I was like, _'No! In fact she did…'_ and Sam's face was so stunned that in that moment I realized that something was really wrong with me."

"What did you do?"

"Well, I told him I just had sex with her and I didn't know how I was feeling. We talked about how he felt the first time he had sex and how he felt around girls and that stuff, and I realized that I felt something like that around boys. I wasn't completely sure, so I tried it with one of Sam's friends that was very proud to be gay and...it felt right. It was fun…and easier...and exciting."

"So, you dated the guy?"

"No, I just slept with him. At that time I was struggling with accepting myself, so pretending I didn't care about feelings was the best way to cope with everything…sex was my easy way out."

"What happened in college? Why didn't you date someone for real?"

"Hmmm…I don't know, things became complicated back then, for several things, but let's say I just felt comfortable with the no-strings-attached relationships."

"I don't get it! How could you survive that? I mean sex is fun, really fun, but it's empty if there are no feelings involved in it…you've never had this need to feel loved when you have sex? To feel cherished by someone? To make love instead of just sex?" Kurt asked.

Blaine stayed silent. He didn't want to tell Kurt that in fact he had always dreamed of it, but never knew it could be real until he met him.

"No." He lied.

"Well, certainly you're missing all the fun in the world." Kurt said, smiling and standing up from the couch.

"I know…" Blaine replied as a matter of fact. He knew he was.


	8. Chapter 8

Blaine was walking anxiously around his office. He had just received a call that had let him uneasy. He picked up the phone and called his assistant.

"Thomas, please call Mr. Evans and tell him I need to talk to him right now."

_"Right away, Mr. Anderson."_

Sam knocked the door of the office five minutes later. Blaine was standing behind his desk. His face was pale as a ghost.

"What happened, Blaine?"

"My mom called."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes...but, she's coming to meet Kurt this weekend."

"Really?" Sam asked, sounding not so surprised.

Blaine looked at him with scrutinizing eyes. It was clear that his friend was nervous. "You already knew it, don't you?"

"No! Well, maybe she mentioned something last week when I talked to her." Sam confessed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would get mad, and right now what she less needs is her son treating her badly."

"She's my mother, Sam! I know she's sick! I wouldn't dare to treat her badly."

"You wouldn't?" Sam questioned. "Blaine, please! If I had told you she was coming I'm sure you would have called her to make her stay home bringing some shitty excuse!"

"I would have not-"

"Of course you would…don't fool yourself!"

"What am I going to do now?" He asked, sighing in defeat.

"You'll have to introduce her to Kurt…simple as that."

"Kurt doesn't know anything about my family…he suspects that something happened to my dad and that I have a brother, but he doesn't know anything and I want it to remain that way. I don't want him to know everything."

"Why not?"

"You know why." Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

"No, I don't. I think it's time for you to open your heart a little, Blaine. Not everything is black or white. If you really want to make a life with Kurt he needs to know…besides, it's not something _that_ bad."

"For me it is, but most importantly I'm not ready, Sam! And...we're just friends. He doesn't know I have feelings for him!"

"He doesn't know about your feelings because you're a coward, but I bet he suspects. I've seen the way he looks at you."

"Can you pick up my mother at the airport?" Blaine said, ignoring Sam's last comment and changing the subject abruptly.

"Of course I can, but I think it would be better if you go yourself…you are her son, Blaine. She would be thrilled to see you there."

"I know, but I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I can't, I have things to do and I prefer it that way."

"As you wish…but just so you know, your mother is the less guilty in all this nonsense and she's the one getting all the bad things. Sometimes I think you really hate her."

"I don't hate her…she's my mother of course I love her!"

"Well, these past few years you haven't been acting like if you really loved her. I think that sometimes you forget who she is."

"Why do you say that?"

"When was the last time you talked to her, besides today that _she_ called you?" Sam asked, already anticipating the answer.

Blaine remained silent. He knew that Sam was telling nothing but the truth. He hadn't spoken to his mother since perhaps her birthday…January 16th. He hadn't even called her on Mother's day.

"See? I know you have bonding issues since Cooper and your dad, but you still have her. Don't you think it's time for you to move on and enjoy what you still have instead of trying to bring people back, who unfortunately are no longer with us and never will be?"

"I'm not going to talk about that with you. Thanks for picking her up. You can go now. I have some business to attend." Blaine said, not daring to look at his friend.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Blaine, one day you'll have to tell someone what's your real problem with your mom and your family, because I really don't get it! I've tried to bring some sense to that mind of yours, but it's impossible. I love you man, but sometimes you really disappoint me. I just hope that when you decide to open your heart and face your demons, it's not too late…for everyone." Sam said, closing the door and leaving Blaine questioning himself.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt and Blaine were working at the studio in the apartment. Kurt was deep in thought working on a new painting, and Blaine was pretending to do some stuff in the computer.

"Kurt?" Blaine suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"Have you told your family about our marriage?" Blaine asked. It was a subject they had never touched before.

Kurt looked at him puzzled and answered sincerely. "Yes, I told them when it happened…why are you asking?"

"Well…I don't know how to tell you this, but well…my mother is coming to the city this weekend and well-" He trailed off.

"-and you want me to leave the apartment so that she doesn't know we are married?" Kurt asked, trying to guess Blaine's intentions.

"No, she wants to meet you."

"She knows about our marriage?"

"Yes, she saw our pictures in the magazine."

"You didn't tell her yourself?"

"No."

"Why not?" Kurt inquired.

"I have my reasons."

"Okay, I'll respect that, but why now? I mean, the magazine came out a couple of months ago." Kurt said as a matter of fact.

"Yes, but she was sick and couldn't leave Chicago for a while…now she's better and she's coming this Saturday."

"So, you want me to meet her?"

"She wants to meet you, so…"

"And, are you okay with that?" Kurt asked, clearly intrigued.

"Well, to be honest, it's not something I'm thrilled about, but I don't want to cause her another reason to get angry and feel bad again…so yes, I'm okay with that."

"Okay...in that case, it will be a pleasure to meet her."

"Thanks…can I ask you something else?"

"Sure!"

"Can you please don't ask her anything about my family? I know you're curious, but please? Could you do that for me?"

Kurt looked at him intently. Blaine's eyes reflected fear. Kurt knew those eyes and though he was dying to know more about Blaine's family, he didn't want him to worry, so he agreed.

"Sure, don't worry…I won't ask anything."

"Thank you, I'll make some reservations for Saturday night then."

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt and Blaine were getting ready to have dinner with Blaine's mom. Kurt was very nervous, but Blaine was over the edge. He was already dressed and waiting impatiently at the living room while Kurt was still arranging some last minute details of his attire.

"Are you ready, Kurt?" Blaine yelled anxious.

"Just give me five more minutes!" Kurt yelled back from the room.

"Okay, but hurry up!"

"Yes, I'm coming!"

Blaine was sweating and trying hard to calm himself down. His phone rang, breaking the silence and startling him to the point of a heart attack.

"What is it Sam?" He said, as soon as he picked up the phone.

_"We're here."_

"Okay, we're on our way, we'll be there in ten minutes…how is she?"

_"Tired, but she's fine…and don't worry, I already told her about your telling-the-truth issues. She said she'd be discreet."_

"Thanks."

_"You're welcome…see you in a few."_

"Yeah."

Blaine hung up and nearly dropped his phone. Kurt had just emerged from the room wearing a gorgeous gray suit that made his eyes look beautifully blue. They were mesmerizing.

"What?" Kurt asked, when he noticed that Blaine was looking at him with detail.

"Nothing…hmmm, you look...hmmm, stunning." Blaine replied, recovering his voice from the initial shock.

"Well, thank you…you do too."

"Thanks, let's go! Sam just called and they're already there."

"Okay." Kurt said, smiling and grabbing his coat.

Blaine called the elevator, but his eyes couldn't move away from Kurt's eyes. He was haunted. Caught in the spell of those blue eyes.

o-o-o-o-o

The encounter with Blaine's mom hadn't been as bad as Blaine had imagined it would be. In fact Kurt and Helen had hit it off immediately and Blaine was, despite all his fears, enjoying the dinner.

"So, you're a true artist?" Helen Anderson asked.

"Well, I'm not that bad." Kurt replied coyly.

"Not that bad? He's extraordinary, Helen! You should see some of his paintings! He's amazing! Isn't he Blaine?" Sam asked, including Blaine in the conversation.

"Yes, mom. He's a very talented and extraordinary artist." Blaine said, smiling tenderly at Kurt.

Kurt was completely flushed. The way Blaine had been looking at him all night was making his cheeks work double shift in the blushing sector. He didn't know why, but for some reason, Blaine's eyes had been fixed on him since they had left the apartment.

"And tell me, Kurt…are you from here?" Helen asked.

"No, Helen, in fact I'm from Ohio."

"Ohio? Really? Which part of Ohio?"

"Lima."

"Beautiful and charming town!"

"Have you been there?"

"Yes, I went there a couple of times. My grandma used to live there."

"Really?"

"Yes…I spent some part of my childhood between Lima and Iowa."

Helen and Kurt started chatting animatedly about places in Lima, while Sam and Blaine stared at them trying to imagine all those places they were talking about. Blaine, however, could not take his eyes away from Kurt. And Sam, who had noticed that particular shine on his friend's eyes was smiling approvingly. They were deep in conversation when suddenly someone cleared his throat near the table. Blaine, Sam, Kurt and Helen turned around at the same time.

"Sorry for interrupting." A guy with a very Irish accent said.

"Adam?" Kurt exclaimed excited.

"Hi." Adam replied, smiling slightly.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here?" Kurt asked, clearly surprised. He hadn't seen Adam in almost two years.

"I was having dinner with some friends and I saw you here, and thought that it would be nice to come and say hi."

"It's been so long!" Kurt exhaled. "God! Let me introduce you…this is Blaine Anderson, Helen Anderson and Sam Evans. Everyone this is Adam Crawford."

"Nice to meet you all." Adam said, flashing a beautiful white-toothed smile.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Helen replied politely.

Blaine and Sam just nodded trying to be friendly. Both knew who this Adam guy was, Blaine because Kurt had told him about him and Sam because Blaine had shared the information with him, besides, he was also a Yankee's fan.

_"Calm down." Sam mouthed._

Blaine's jaw was tense and his discomfort was evident.

"Kurt, would you mind coming with me for a second?" Adam asked.

"I'm sorry Adam, but I'm in the-" Kurt was saying when Blaine interrupted him.

"Go with him, Kurt. Don't worry about us…we can wait for you to order the dessert."

Kurt looked at him with hard eyes and very reluctantly stood up and walked away with Adam. The whole time Blaine was watching at Kurt with possessive eyes.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt was very uncomfortable. He didn't want to go with Adam, but Blaine had left him with no option. Kurt and Adam reached the table where a group of handsome and athletic boys were gathered.

"People, I want you to meet Kurt Hummel." He said, introducing Kurt to the group of people. "Kurt these are my friends and teammates, Brett, Derek, Chase, Ivan, and David."

"Nice to meet you all." Kurt said, smiling politely.

"You want to join us for a drink?" One of the guys suggested.

"Thank you very much, but I really can't stay, you see? I'm in the middle of a very important dinner with my family." He said, trying to decline the invitation as politely as possible.

"Your family?" Adam asked confused. He knew Kurt's family and the people on that table were all complete strangers for him.

"Yes, Blaine is my husband. His mom came to visit us for the weekend, and the blond guy is like his brother. They practically grew up together." Kurt explained.

"Are you married? To that guy?" Adam asked in shock. Everyone in the table was stunned too. Apparently Adam had told them that they had been a couple no less than two years ago.

"Yes."

"He's the CEO of Anderson & Partners, isn't he?" Adam asked, knowing that he had seen that face somewhere before.

"Yes."

"How did that happen?"

"Long story." Kurt said smiling.

"Wow! I wasn't expecting that…I guess we'll have to go for lunch one of these days to catch up with our lives."

"Yeah, that would be lovely." Kurt replied, smiling politely.

"Okay, it's settled then…what a shame you can't stay to have a drink with us."

"Yeah…maybe next time."

o-o-o-o-o

The whole time Kurt interacted with Adam, Blaine was looking intently at them. Helen and Sam were smiling conspiratorially.

"Are you okay, son?" Helen asked.

"What?" Blaine asked back distracted.

"Are you okay?" She asked again.

"Yes…why?"

"Well, you seem upset."

"I'm not upset." He said, looking again at Adam who, to his delight, was looking at Kurt with surprise and some disappointment. Apparently Kurt had told him something that had really shocked him.

"He's just jealous, Helen. He always acts like that when Kurt is with someone else." Sam added smirking.

"I'm not jealous." Blaine fought back.

"Of course you are! You should see your face, and your eyes...if they were guns, he'd be dead already."

Blaine looked at Sam with hard eyes. He hated when his friend used that special power of knowing him so well against him. He was cursing himself for being so evident.

"Well, yes I'm jealous! So what?"

"Nothing, but you should control yourself, buddy. If you didn't want Kurt to go with him you shouldn't have pushed him towards him."

"I didn't do that."

"Son, I know you hate when I talk about your life, but I think Sam is right…you pushed him away. I think Kurt was about to decline this guy's proposition when you interrupted him."

Blaine looked at his mom. She was right. He had, in fact, done what she had said, but it had not been intentionally. He was angry and jealous, and didn't know what he had done.

"I really did it, didn't I? I swear sometimes I don't know what I'm doing…when I'm with him I feel lost. I don't have control about my emotions. I'm completely blind around him…is like if every time I'm around him my heart were on a roller coaster losing all connection with my brain...I'm afraid. I don't even know what do or how to act, I just want to do what makes him happy, but I always screw things up."

"Well, that, my son, is what people call love."

Blaine looked up and smiled warmly at his mother for the first time in so many years. Helen's eyes filled with tears, but she contained herself. In that moment Kurt returned to the table with Adam by his side.

"Sorry for having stolen Kurt a few minutes…he's back now, have a good night!" Adam said, looking at everyone at the table, but keeping his attention on Blaine. He was curious about Kurt's husband. "I'll call you over the week, Kurt."

"Yeah, sure." Kurt said, smiling politely and taking his respective seat next to Blaine.

Blaine looked at Adam with hard eyes and put a protective arm around Kurt's shoulders. Kurt froze, but didn't say a thing.

"Have a good night too…Adam." Blaine said, using his sarcastic voice.

"Thanks." Adam said, walking away from the table.

Blaine lowered his arm and grabbed his drink, taking it in one gulp. Kurt looked at him and rolled his eyes. He knew that Blaine's first reaction to unknown situations was alcohol.

"Sorry about the delay." Kurt said, apologizing to the rest of the table and trying to ignore the fact that Blaine was still looking at Adam.

"Don't worry, my dear. I guess now we can order the dessert." Helen said, calling the waiter.

The waiter came and brought the desserts' card. Helen immediately ordered some lemon pie and Sam a slice of chocolate cake. Kurt was unsure of what to order. He was looking at the whole menu with anxious eyes.

"What do you want to order?" Blaine asked Kurt.

"I don't know, they all look delicious."

"I'm sure they all are."

"Yes…I don't know which one to pick."

"You like cheesecake, don't you?"

Kurt looked at him with tender eyes. He remembered that he had mentioned his inclination towards cheesecake once, at Rachel PhD's graduation party, but he was surprised that Blaine had remembered that small detail.

"Yes…it's my favorite."

"I've heard that the strawberry cheesecake in here is wonderful." Blaine said smiling.

Kurt smiled back. "I don't know if I can eat a whole slice all by myself."

"We can share it if you want?" Blaine suggested.

"Okay." Kurt said smiling.

Sam and Helen were looking at them, but pretended not to notice the flirting game that was going on between them.

"We want the strawberry cheesecake, please." Blaine said.

"Two slices, sir?" The waiter asked.

"No, just one. We'll share it." Blaine replied.

Kurt was smiling like a fool. He was surprised by the way Blaine had said _'we'_. It sounded so accurate that he couldn't stop smiling.

"And tell me Kurt have you heard the stories about these two?" Helen asked, referring to Blaine and Sam.

"Yeah, Blaine shared some details about them." Kurt said, smiling and looking at Blaine with a reassuring smile, trying to tell him just with his eyes that he didn't have to worry, he wouldn't ask or say anything.

"You didn't tell him about the time we went to Florida, did you?" Sam asked worried.

"No, I thought you would like to share that story yourself." Blaine said, teasing Sam.

Sam was completely flushed. Helen and Blaine were laughing loudly and Kurt was looking at all of them completely confused.

"What happened in Florida?" He asked.

"Go on, Sam…tell Kurt about our time in Florida." Blaine said, mocking Sam.

"Believe me Kurt, you don't want to hear that story." Sam said.

"Well, now I do…more than ever."

"Tell him, he's not going to judge you…that mistake could have happened to anyone." Blaine repeated laughing.

Kurt was laughing too, but didn't know why. He had never seen Blaine so happy and he discovered that his carefree laughter was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Okay, but you'll have to tell him the embarrassing part…I can't say that out loud, I'm still ashamed of it."

"Okay." Blaine agreed.

Sam began to tell his story, with lots of details, definitely trying to make it even longer. The waiter arrived with their desserts and immediately everyone started talking while enjoying the delicious cakes. Kurt had just taken a single bite because his attention was completely focused on hearing Sam's story.

Blaine looked up and saw that Adam was watching them intently. Well, actually he was just looking at Kurt. Blaine looked at him very quickly and in a previously calculated move, he took his spoon and fed Kurt in the mouth. Kurt jumped back a little, but allowed Blaine to feed him. Helen and Sam were smiling warmly at them.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"Nothing." Sam said smiling.

"Then, go on…tell Kurt about your almost one night stand with that guy."

"What!?" Kurt asked stunned, almost spitting the cake that was still in his mouth.

Blaine laughed along with his mother, and Sam buried his head under the napkin completely ashamed.

o-o-o-o-o

Some days after the dinner, Blaine was at home watching a documentary when Kurt arrived. He looked weird. His face was completely rattled.

"Hey, there…are you okay?" Blaine asked a little worried.

"Yes…" Kurt said, sitting down next to Blaine. "No…actually no, I'm not."

"What happened?"

"I had dinner with Adam…and-" Kurt trailed off.

"What happened?" Blaine asked, not completely sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"He-he proposed." Kurt said, almost in a whisper.

"He, what?" Blaine asked shocked.

"He proposed." Kurt repeated completely confused.

"But, why? He knows you're already married."

"I don't know…someone told him we were not a real marriage and just in the middle of the dinner he went down on one knee and proposed…just like that."

"What did you answer?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Why not?"

"I was stunned. I'm still stunned…we hadn't talked for almost two years and suddenly we meet again and then he proposes? I don't know, but I think it is a lot of information to handle. I still don't understand why he did it! Yeah, I know that what we had was important, but I thought it was in the past."

"What are you going to answer?"

"I don't know…" Kurt replied confused.

Blaine didn't say a word. He was just watching his world crumble down before his eyes. He tried to smile politely, but Kurt stood up and without a word, walked to the room and closed the door behind him.

o-o-o-o-o

After some hours, Blaine entered the room and found Kurt completely asleep. He looked at him and smiled in adoration. Kurt had fallen asleep over the covers. He took a blanket from the wardrobe and tucked him in, being very careful not to wake him. In a sweet and tender move Blaine caressed Kurt's hair and whispered, "Oh Kurt! You can't marry another guy, you're already married to me…if you only knew..."

He entered the dressing room to put on his pajamas and Kurt opened his eyes, smiling broadly. He was just pretending to be asleep. He had heard everything.


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt had invited Mercedes over to have a Saturday movie marathon since Sam and Blaine would be working late. They were having a really good time watching their favorite musicals, romantic movies and just chatting. Mercedes had practically screamed when Kurt had told her all the details about Adam's proposal and how he had declined the proposition during a dinner the night before. Between ice cream, popcorn and wine the day had slipped away and when they realized, the sun was already setting.

"Let's watch another one." Mercedes suggested.

"Okay, but don't you dare to put that horror movie."

"Don't worry...I saved that for later, we must have the proper atmosphere for that kind of movies, so we'll wait until the sky is completely black and the room is plunged into darkness." She said, grinning wickedly.

Kurt rolled his eyes and shook his head. Mercedes put a drama movie and they watched it in silence. When the movie was ending they both were crying like babies.

"I really, really hate when movies end like this! I hate it!" Mercedes said, crying and filling her mouth with a bunch of popcorn, trying to kill the sadness with the sweet candy that covered them.

"I do too." Kurt replied, wiping his tears and runny nose. "I'm a full-time advocate of happy endings."

They were both wiping their tears and watching the final credits when Sam entered the apartment. He was carrying some bags and didn't notice the drama happening in front of the T.V.

"Hi, there! We brought dinner, Blaine said it was-" He stopped in his tracks. "Gosh! What happened? Why are you two crying? Who died?" Sam asked worried.

"Marley." Mercedes replied.

"Who's Marley?" Sam asked worried.

"The dog." Kurt replied, sobbing and lifting the DVD box, so that Sam could see the cover of the movie.

"You're crying like that because of a movie?" He asked shocked.

"Yes." Mercedes whispered, while Kurt just nodded.

Sam rolled his eyes, and smiling, walked to leave the bags at the dining table.

"Where's Blaine?" Kurt asked, standing up from the couch and stretching his legs.

"Hmmm...well, he's not coming. When the meeting was over, he went on a date with this cute guy he just met, he's a senior executive in a major company in L.A. Blaine told me to come here to make you both some company and also to inform you that he'll be out all weekend." Sam said nonchalantly.

Kurt's eyes widened with shock and Mercedes' jaw dropped, while Sam just started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Gotcha!" He said, still laughing.

Kurt rolled his eyes heavenly and turned around to hide his sudden blush. Mercedes rolled her eyes too and scolded her boyfriend. "That was not funny, baby."

"Of course it was, you should have seen your faces!"

"It was not funny." Kurt replied petulantly.

"Seriously...where is he?" Mercedes asked.

"He's talking with the guy at the door. Some maintenance changes or something like that." He said, still laughing.

Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"Don't get mad at me, Kurt, it was just a very innocent joke."

Kurt shook his head and turned around. He knew why Sam had made that joke. Ever since the famous dinner with Blaine's mom a couple of days ago, Sam had been practically breathing down their necks. He mocked them and was always trying to make them crack in front of the other. Kurt was turning off the plasma when Blaine entered the apartment. He looked around and asked confused. "What happened? Why are you two crying? And why are you smiling like a fool Sam?"

"Nothing!" Sam replied. "They are crying because of that movie of the dog that dies in the end, and I'm smiling like a fool because I just successfully verified that my theory about Kurt is correct and that he's-"

"-that I'm a hopeless crying baby, because I can't help but cry whenever I see an emotional movie." Kurt interrupted, quickly trying to stop Sam from saying what he was about to say.

Blaine looked at Sam. "Seriously, Sam, leave them alone...I cried with that movie too, it's not a big deal. Let's eat, we brought some dinner." Blaine said, walking toward the dining table.

Mercedes stood up and helped Blaine to take out the food from the bags. Kurt was about to join them when Sam intercepted him.

"Why did you interrupt me?" He asked smirking.

"Because I knew what you were gonna say."

"So, is it true then?"

"What?"

"What I verified with my little joke." Sam asked.

"That's none of your business." Kurt said, blushing.

Sam laughed. "I knew it!"

"You know nothing."

"Okay, I _'don't know,'_ but for the record, I think you should tell him."

"Tell who? What?" Kurt replied, feigning innocence.

Sam rolled his eyes and was about to reply when Blaine yelled from the table. "Hey, you two! Let's eat while the food is still warm!"

Kurt and Sam nodded and walked toward the table. Kurt looked more closely to the empty bags and saw that the food was from that restaurant he loved so much, and his heart filled with joy. He sat next to Blaine and whispered a sweet, _'Thanks.'_ He was very touched by the gesture.

Blaine looked at him and smiled, whispering back a sweet, _'You're welcome.'_

o-o-o-o-o

After finish eating dinner Sam and Blaine practically ran to the plasma to play that silly video game with which they were so obsessed lately. Mercedes and Kurt stayed at the table just talking and drinking some wine.

"Do they always behave like this when they are here?" Mercedes asked, looking at Blaine and Sam who were fighting over who should use the golden controller.

Kurt looked at the guys and nodded. "Yes, every single time! If they have nothing better to do they always play that silly game and fight over the same silly controller. I still don't see why the black one is different from the golden one...for me both are the same and work the same way." Kurt said smiling.

"They look like two 16 year-old's...If I ever marry Sam I'm going to ban video games from the house."

"Good luck on trying that!" Kurt said, raising his nearly empty glass of wine.

"Seriously! I don't know how you can stand them acting like that!" Mercedes said, still looking at them. Sam was all over Blaine trying to steal him the golden controller. Both men fighting like little kids.

"I don't know...I'm not a fan of video games, but they enjoy playing them and I like to see them happy." Kurt said, smiling warmly at them.

"Them or just Blaine?"

Kurt turned around dramatically and looked at his friend with hard eyes.

"What?" She replied, feigning innocence. "Don't think I haven't noticed that there's something going on between you two!"

"Nothing is going on between us!"

"Kurt, don't try to fool me... since that dinner you two had with your mother in-law you've been acting weird. I know you, and I know that look on your face." She said, knowingly. "Besides Sam told me you two were flirting the whole night and let's not add to the mix that for some unknown reason you declined Adam's proposal."

"First, I did not flirt with him and second, the fact that I have declined Adam's proposal has nothing to do with Blaine."

"No?"

"No...I did it because I don't love him."

"...more like because you're in love with someone else."

"I am not."

"Come on, Kurt! Your eyes cannot fool me...I recognize that spark, baby, you're in love with him. Besides, you shared your slice of cheesecake. Maybe Sam is fool enough to consider that a mild form of flirting, but I know that for you that is full-force flirting! Sharing your favorite thing in the world is your truest act of commitment."

Kurt rolled his eyes and very slightly turned around to look at Blaine. He was laughing loudly and Kurt thought he could never get tired of hearing that lovely sound.

"I'm not-" He started saying, but he couldn't complete the sentence. He could not deny it anymore.

"You're in love with him, right?" Mercedes asked, trying to help her friend to face his own feelings.

Kurt sighed and sipped the rest of his wine. He looked up and found Blaine looking back at him. He smiled coyly and turned around to see Mercedes again. He could not keep denying it, it made no sense. He knew he was madly in love with him, so he sighed in defeat.

"Yes."

"I fucking knew it!" Mercedes yelled excited.

"Shhhhhhhhh!" Kurt shushed her, afraid that the boys could hear them.

"Sorry!" She whispered. "But it was obvious! You two are nuts about each other and don't tell me he's not into you because that's not true. Do you really believe that he brought your favorite meal, from your favorite restaurant, just because he was around and was the only restaurant open at this hour in the whole city? Of course not! He wanted to please you!"

Kurt blushed. Mercedes was right, the food and the restaurant were definitely not a coincidence and what he had heard the other night was still wandering through his mind, so making the math, he couldn't help but smile like a fool.

"A penny for your thoughts." Mercedes said, bringing Kurt back to reality.

"There's something I didn't tell you." He confessed.

"What?"

"The other night I heard something I wasn't supposed to be listening."

"What?" She asked intrigued.

"The night Adam proposed, I pretended to be asleep when Blaine came back to our room and he said-" Kurt whispered. " _'You can't marry another guy, you're already married to me. If you only knew ...'_ "

"Oh, sweet Jesus! He said that?"

"Yes...I don't know what he meant but-"

"It's obvious, Kurt! He feels something for you!"

"I'm not sure..." Kurt lied.

"Of course you are...you're just pretending you are not, because you like this little game between you two. Don't think I haven't noticed it...smiles, slight touches, whisperings, heart eyes."

Kurt blushed again and shook his head smiling. "I think we need more wine." He said, standing up to get another bottle before his friend could continue with the awkward conversation.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine and Sam really enjoyed playing that video game. They knew they were probably kind of old for those games, but they loved them. Especially this new version of their favorite zombies camp game.

"Focus, Blaine! Or you'll get us both killed!" Sam yelled.

"Sorry." Blaine replied, focusing on the game again. He had lost concentration because Kurt had just walked near the mini-bar to pick up another bottle of wine.

They continued playing, but Blaine's attention was divided. Every now and then he turned slightly to his left to see Kurt who was attempting to open the bottle. He looked really cute frowning and staring at the bottle of wine. Sam noticed Blaine's lack of attention and smiling playfully, he said, "You know something?"

"What?"

"I proved something today...it's not like I didn't know it, but I was not completely sure, now I am."

"What?" Blaine asked confused.

"That Kurt is...Shit! Watch your back, Blaine! Crap! They are coming! Kill them! Kill them!" Sam said, getting distracted by the game.

"Fuck! Why did you leave me alone!? Let's go to the other side, maybe we can sneak into the house using the passageway." Blaine said.

"Okay."

"You were saying that Kurt is what?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, yeah...that he is-"

"Are you still insisting with the same theory, Sam? Get over it!" Kurt said, walking from the mini-bar. "Yes, I'm a crying little baby. I can't help it. I was born a romantic, so what?" Kurt said, looking at Sam with hard eyes.

Sam rolled his eyes and muttered. "Romantic being the keyword."

Blaine looked at both of them in confusion. Kurt shrugged and asked. "You guys want more wine?"

"No, thank you." Blaine replied quickly.

"No?" Sam and Kurt asked surprised at the same time.

Blaine laughed. "No, I don't want more wine. What's so surprising about that?"

"Well..." Kurt mumbled.

"Don't get us wrong, buddy, but it's so unusual of you to say no to another glass of wine." Sam said.

"I'm a reformed man. I don't need to drink like crazy anymore." Blaine said, and returned his attention back to the game trying to avoid the scrutinizing eyes that they were giving him.

Sam and Kurt looked at each other completely confused. They both knew that Blaine's behavior was weird.

"Well, I'm still not reformed, so I do want more wine Kurt...thank you."

Kurt poured Sam another glass of wine and walked away without saying another word. Once Kurt was seated at the table with Mercedes and far away from hearing anything, Sam asked, "Really? A reformed man?"

"What? It's true. I haven't got drunk since that time when you found me in the studio. I'm not saying that I don't drink anymore, because I still enjoy a nice glass of wine or whiskey every now and then, but I no longer have that need to lose myself in alcohol...at least not anymore...it's gone."

Sam looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, stop Sam! You should be proud not surprised!"

"I am, but I still find hard to believe how much you have changed since...he is here." Sam said, whispering the last part.

"I know, I owe him a lot. He has done a lot for me over the last few months."

"Yes, I think he's good for you."

"I know, he makes me a better person." Blaine replied, smiling warmly.

"Also I think you should tell him about your feelings."

"I know, but I'm afraid."

"Maybe you're not the only one..." Sam whispered more to himself.

o-o-o-o-o

After some time Kurt and Mercedes had joined Blaine and Sam in the couch, and they had had to turned off the video game to put on a movie. Much to Kurt's misfortune, Mercedes had insisted on giving it a try to the horror movie and everybody had approved it. Obviously, Mercedes very deliberately, had sat next to Sam and left Kurt in the awkward position of having to sit next to Blaine.

Kurt had spent the first thirty minutes of the movie trying not to find some refuge in Blaine's arms, but he had had to give up when the main character had screamed very loud and run for his life, walking away from some creepy cave. Blaine didn't say a word, he just let Kurt find some shelter in his arms. Kurt spent the rest of the movie hidden in Blaine's arms and covering his face with the blanket that he had placed around them.

When the movie ended Kurt tried to remain still, just hoping to stay in Blaine's arms for the next movie. He succeeded, though, Blaine didn't move. He just adjusted the blanket and kept his arms around Kurt while Sam and Mercedes stood up to change the movie.

"It's my turn, baby! Let me pick the next one." Sam said.

"No!" Blaine and Mercedes exclaimed at the same time.

"Why not?" Sam asked, faking a wounded voice.

"First, because you always pick the same movies and second, because they are always bad." Blaine said, smiling from his position on the couch.

"Preach! I couldn't have said it better." Mercedes replied.

Sam made a sad face and sank on the couch pouting like a two year old. Kurt felt sorry for him immediately. Sam was a nice guy, kind of annoying sometimes, but a nice guy.

"Oh, come on! Let's give Sam a chance...let him pick the next movie. I'm sure it's going to be better than that awful movie we just saw." Kurt said.

Sam smiled broadly and Mercedes and Blaine shrugged.

"Later don't say I didn't warn you." Blaine said.

Kurt smiled, and Sam started to look for the movie. Sam's favorite movies were either endless sagas about medieval and mythological creatures or superhero movies, so despite everybody's discomfort, they ended up watching the second movie of the Lord of the Rings. Kurt hated those movies, but he had personally defended Sam, so he faked a smile and started watching the movie. He tried with all his heart to enjoy the movie and mainly to understand it, but he got lost in the first twenty minutes and fell asleep with his head resting on Blaine's chest.

Blaine tried as long as he could not to fall asleep once Kurt was sleeping, but he couldn't help it and inadvertently he fell asleep too, embracing Kurt tightly.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt woke up and tried to move, but something was holding him still. He opened his eyes and saw that he was next to Blaine on the couch where he last remembered being watching a movie about hobbits and elves, and realized that Blaine's arms were the ones holding him still. He smiled warmly and blinked a couple of times thinking that maybe he was still dreaming. But after some minutes nothing changed. He was still in Blaine's arms. They had fallen asleep embracing.

He glanced at the clock near the plasma and saw that it was very early in the morning. He moved slightly and Blaine woke up.

"What time is it?" He mumbled sleepy, with his eyes still closed.

"Hmmm, 7am." Kurt replied.

"We fell asleep here?"

"Yep." Kurt mumbled.

Blaine raised his head and opened his eyes. His hair was a mess and so was Kurt's. He smiled warmly at him and murmured. "Good morning."

"Good morning." Kurt replied shyly.

"Where are Sam and Mercedes?"

"I don't know...maybe they left last night."

"Hmmm I don't think so...I suspect they stole our bed." Blaine said, closing his eyes again and leaning his head back on the couch.

"Probably."

Kurt closed his eyes just waiting for Blaine to break the embrace, but he didn't, so Kurt rested his head on Blaine's chest again and said, "Remind me to listen to you from now on, and to never let Sam pick a movie, ever again."

Blaine laughed. "Deal."

Kurt smiled and let his breathing synchronize with Blaine's. It was a peaceful Sunday morning and neither of them wanted to move.

"Do you really think they are in our room?" Kurt asked.

"Yep...Sam doesn't like to drive when he has been drinking. Besides, I offered them to stay, so I'm sure they are still here."

"I can't believe they let us stay in the couch."

"I know, but it was not that bad." Blaine whispered.

Kurt smiled. "Yes, it was not bad."

"But you're right...they should have stayed here in the couch...our place was at our very comfy bed."

"I thought you had suggested I was going to sleep with Mercedes in our room...and that you were going to stay here with Sam."

"Yes, but that was before that horror movie." Blaine said, still with his eyes closed.

Kurt blushed. He knew why Blaine was saying that. They had been embracing since then. There was no way they could have slept apart that night.

"Don't tell me you were afraid of the movie too." Kurt said, mocking Blaine.

"I was not, but you were and I was not going to let you sleep alone...what if you had a nightmare?" Blaine asked, opening his eyes and looking at Kurt directly in the eye. Kurt blushed.

"Thank you."

"The pleasure was all mine." Blaine confessed.

Kurt closed his eyes. He didn't want to continue staring at those hazel eyes or else he would end up losing his self-control. Blaine very quickly caressed Kurt's hair and said, "Maybe we should make them pay for letting us stay here."

"How?" Kurt whispered, still unable to open his eyes.

"I have several things in mind. Some college pranks actually...we could put some music loudly or paint their faces with sharpie, lock them up in the room, or steal their clothes if they are not using them."

"Ugh!" Kurt exclaimed "Do you think they had sex in our bed?" He asked alarmed.

"Probably."

"Oh no...we'll have to change the covers! Ugh!"

Blaine laughed. "Don't worry, we'll tell the maid to change them for us."

"Then maybe we should just lock them up. I can't walk into the room...I don't know if I'll be able to erase that picture from my mind."

Blaine laughed again and released Kurt. Kurt flinched a little for the lack of contact, but didn't say a thing. Blaine looked at him and said, "Then let's lock them up and sneak out to have some breakfast...If you want we can bring them some leftovers."

Kurt laughed. "But, we're a complete mess...look at our clothes."

"What? They look pretty good to me...besides, it's too early and it's Sunday. Nobody we know will be there, and iHop is just around the corner...what do you say? Are you in the mood for some pancakes?"

"I am, but are we really going to lock them up?"

"Yes!" Blaine replied, smiling like a two year old.

They stood up from the couch and careful not to make any noise, walked toward the room. They were laughing quietly when they saw a sheet of paper taped to the door of the main bedroom. Both came closer to read it.

_"Dear lovebirds, if you manage to untangle yourselves from that ridiculous embrace in which you two were last night, then do not dare to enter in here. Just for tonight this room is not longer yours. We have, very pleasantly, accepted your offer to let us stay for the night and since you were very, very asleep we decided to have a proper night of sleep in a real bed (your couch is nice, but your bed is better). Do not worry, my friends, we're not planning to have sex in your love nest, but we do like to sleep naked, so enter under your own risk. If you wake up early please make sure to prepare a decent breakfast and wake us when the table is set...Have a nice night (if you're reading this and it's still night) or Good morning! I hope you've had a very good night ;) Sincerely Sam ( & Mercedes)."_

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other. Everybody could read in both their eyes how much they wanted to kill Sam. Blaine whispered into Kurt's ear. "No leftovers for these two."

"Agree."

Blaine locked the door and they left the place to went to have breakfast, giggling the whole time. This new twist in the story was just beginning.


	10. Chapter 10

The last few weeks had been very different between Kurt and Blaine. After that movie marathon-stay-over dinner they had had with Sam and Mercedes they were more closer than ever. They were not officially together, because nothing had happened between them, not even a kiss, but certainly there was something going on between them. They had been openly flirting with each other and on several occasions they had woken up to discover that they were embracing. Neither of them had tried to say anything, they were still afraid to say it out loud, so they were just letting things fall into place...naturally.

o-o-o-o-o

The first week of November arrived. Kurt was supposed to be out all weekend attending some art congress in which he would be representing the museum. He left on Thursday night and was supposed to be back until Sunday night. However, due to some drawbacks, the final days of the congress were canceled and he returned home on Saturday night. He arrived at the apartment hoping to find Blaine lying on the couch watching one of those documentaries that he loved so much or maybe playing the zombies' video game with Sam, but the place was completely silent. As if no one were there.

"Blaine?" He asked, as soon as he entered the apartment. "Are you here? I came home earlier, the congress was canceled." He said, as a matter of explanation, but no one answered.

The place really looked deserted, the only noise was coming from the clock placed by the plasma. The empty box that Kurt had left on top of the dining table on Thursday night was still there, so not even the maid had been there. He quickly looked at the key holder. Blaine's car keys were there, so that only meant that Blaine should be home, he very rarely left the apartment without his beloved car.

Kurt entered the main room looking for him, but he wasn't there either. He left his luggage by the dressing room door and looked in the kitchen, laundry room, the library and finally he went to the studio. He opened the door, but the place was also empty. He frowned, and when he was about to close the door, he heard some noises coming from inside the locked room—the forbidden zone.

"Blaine?" He asked cautiously.

There was no answer. He walked near the door trying to hear more clearly and knocked slightly. He was almost sure that he had heard something, but wasn't completely convinced. He tried to listen more carefully, putting his ear against the door, and he heard some strange noises. Someone was definitely inside the room and was, according to him, crying.

"Blaine? Are you there? Are you alright?" He asked worried.

There was no answer again, but this time Kurt knew Blaine was the one crying. He hadn't seen Blaine crying, but he knew the color of his voice and the sounds coming from that room were definitely him. He sounded strange, broken and inconsolable.

"It's me Blaine, Kurt. I came home earlier…are you alright? What's going on?"

Blaine kept crying. Kurt tried to open the door, but it was locked so he cursed in silence.

"Please, Blaine! Tell me what's going on. What happened? Why are you crying? Why are you locked in that room? Please let me help you."

Blaine didn't answer, he just kept crying and Kurt was desperate.

"Please, Blaine…I know it's hard for you, but you can trust me. Let me in, let me help you! Tell me what's happening! Why are you crying?"

Blaine didn't answer again. Kurt could only hear Blaine's cries of pain. It was very hard to hear him suffering like that. He was in agony and Kurt had tears in his eyes due to the frustration.

"Please, Blaine, please! I hate to hear you so broken! Let me help you, I can do it…whatever it is, I promise to listen and not judge or ask…if you don't want to tell me anything it's fine. I don't need to know, but at least let me be with you…it's killing me to hear you crying and not be able to comfort you! Please, Blaine…remember that you're not alone anymore…I'm here with you and for you…please!" Kurt begged.

Blaine didn't reply, but the door suddenly cracked open and a broken version of Blaine threw himself into Kurt's arms. Kurt caught Blaine in time and hugged him tightly. Blaine cried for almost half an hour without stopping and Kurt just rocked him in his arms. Kurt tried with all his heart not to cry, but seeing Blaine crying like that made him lose control, and he started to cry as well.

o-o-o-o-o

After some time Blaine looked up and saw Kurt's teary eyes. "Why are you crying too?" He asked, sobbing slightly.

"Because it kills me to see you suffering! Why don't you see that? Your pain is my pain, Blaine! I only wish I knew why you are crying like this."

Blaine looked him with his eyes full of water and took his hand to let him enter the room. Kurt walked hesitantly because now he was not sure if he wanted to see whatever it was inside that room. He had to admit that he was afraid of whatever was waiting inside.

Kurt entered the room and gasped.

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed in a whisper.

The room, which seemed to be smaller, was in fact the size of the actual studio. It was a very bright and huge place with millions of boxes, pictures hanging on the wall and a black piano. Kurt looked around confused.

"You play the piano?" He asked.

Blaine just nodded.

"Then, why do you have it in here and not in the living room?"

"Because I don't play anymore...it's something I used to share with my dad. I haven't played in several years."

Kurt didn't say a word. He had gotten distracted with the pictures hanging on the walls and the ones that were scattered all over the floor. Blaine took a picture that was near the couch and showed it to Kurt. Kurt smiled recognizing one of the kids in the picture—it was an 8 year old version of Blaine. He was very young, but he was still the same handsome boy that Kurt knew so well. However, the other one was a complete stranger. He was definitely older than Blaine, maybe four or five years older, and had a gorgeous face highlighted by two large blue eyes, brown hair and that same beautiful smile that Kurt loved so much.

"He was my brother. His name was Cooper…today was his birthday, he would have turned 32." Blaine said, starting to cry again.

Kurt looked at the picture and put his hand over Cooper's face, now he could see the resemblance. They both were very good looking men, completely different, but still so alike. The Anderson brothers were very, very handsome. Kurt had his favorite, that was for sure, but he could see that Blaine's brother was also a very attractive man with a gorgeous smile, eyes that could make you melt in a second, and that same special charm that Blaine had.

"What happened to him?" Kurt asked, without taking his eyes away from the picture.

"He died four years ago…and it was all my fault!" Blaine confessed, crying loudly. Tears were streaming down his face and he fell defeated to the ground.

Kurt knelt beside him and put the picture aside. Carefully, he reached out his arms to grab Blaine's shoulders and hugged him again.

"I don't know what happened, but I'm sure it's not your fault." Kurt said, trying to comfort Blaine a little.

"It was my fault! I left him, Kurt! He needed me, and I left him!" Blaine said, crying loudly.

Kurt sat next to Blaine and hugged him tightly. Blaine was like a little broken baby boy and all Kurt wanted to do was to hug him tightly and make sure he was okay.

Blaine hadn't showed his emotions with anyone, not even with Sam, but he knew that with Kurt things were different, so he let go and continued crying desperately hiding his head under Kurt's neck.

The whole time Kurt couldn't help but look at the pictures hanging on the wall; in almost all of them Blaine was there with his brother, his mom or his dad. They looked like a very close-knit and happy family. Kurt's mind was wondering why Blaine had kept this side of himself hidden in these walls.

After some time Kurt asked politely, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Blaine looked at him with his beautiful and teary hazel eyes and just nodded.

"Okay, go on. I'm listening, tell me whatever you want me to know…don't worry, I won't judge you. I'll just try to understand. Remember that I just want to help you, Blaine."

Blaine looked at him and without second thoughts, he began to tell his story. "Five years ago, my dad died in a tragic car accident. I still can remember it as if it had happened just yesterday. I was in my last year of college, and I had missed classes that day because it was my dad's birthday and Coop was coming home to celebrate with us."

"He didn't live here?"

"No, he was living in L.A. with his girlfriend. He was in charge of the small branch of Anderson & Partners there."

"Okay, go on."

"I picked him up at the airport and along with my mom, we prepared a beautiful dinner just for my father. He was out of town, he had had to go to Boston to attend some event and was supposed to be home by night. I remember that my mom was extremely anxious that day and she didn't even know why. The irony, right? It was as if life were somehow telling her that something bad was about to happen, but she didn't get it until it was too late." Blaine said, chocking a little on his own tears. "Anyway, my dad called when he left the hotel and told us that he was on his way and that he'd be home by eight. We waited, and waited, and waited, and he didn't arrive…three hours, Kurt! Three fucking hours!" Blaine said, crying.

Kurt looked at him and in a tender move stroked his face to wipe some tears. Blaine closed his eyes and continued telling the story.

"Almost at midnight the phone rang and my mom picked up thinking it was him, but it wasn't. Her face went pale and she passed out. I was just a few steps away from her, so I ran to catch her just in time and Coop took the phone. I remember that he started asking too many questions and his voice was shattered. After I put my mom on the couch I ran away...I walked for hours not wanting to face the truth. My mom's face and Coop's voice were all I needed at the time to understand what had happened. I went to my dad's office, now my office, and I stayed there for hours just contemplating the view...Sam found me later and took me home. It was a very hard time for all of us. I think that when my father died our family died with him too."

"Why?" Kurt asked carefully.

"Because we didn't know how to handle his death. He was the glue that held us together...without him, we just disappeared as a family. My mom was very depressed and didn't talk to anyone for several months. She didn't even attend my dad's funeral, and after some days I had to go back to school and Coop took over the company. That's when everything got out of control. Our family dynamic changed completely and although Coop and I tried to keep things as normal as possible between us, we couldn't help but distance ourselves a bit. He was now Mr. Anderson and though he was still my brother, he had plenty of things to do, money to administrate, business to attend, important people to meet and a big hole in his heart." Blaine said, taking a deep breath to continue. "Eventually we realized that the only time we could spend together was in the company events and parties, so we started to find time to go to all the events available in the city. As you can imagine we lost control; I started _'to live'_ my life as an idiot and so did Cooper. We spent all the money we could in silly hobbies and useless stuff, we went to events together and we got drunk until we passed out. We were very stupid; we had power, money and no control at all."

"And your mom?"

"She was too depressed to see what was happening. The thing is that I didn't know that he was doing some other things besides alcohol. I thought he trusted me, I thought I knew him better than anyone, that's why when they told me how he had died I didn't believe it. I still find it hard to believe. He was always such a perfect son, Kurt. He was extremely responsible, honest, smart and very charismatic. Everybody loved him. He was a lawyer, you know? He graduated from Yale! He was the greatest achievement that this family had ever had. He was perfect in every way. For me, he was some kind of superhero, after my father of course...that's why it hurts me so much. Back then, when my father died and we had the reading of his will, the lawyer said that my dad's last wish about the company was that we took care of it. Obviously, I was still in school so Coop was the first in line to take over. It was obvious, I mean, he already knew a lot about the business with the two years he spent in L.A., and everyone agreed that he was the best option for the company at the time. I agreed too, after all, it was natural that he assumed my dad's position once he was gone. Now I know it was such a pressure for him."

Kurt smiled apologetically. He didn't know what to say.

"He told me once that he couldn't keep pretending to be dad, but I didn't think it was important. I didn't care, Kurt. I was selfish. I was just worried about my own life and I didn't listen, I didn't pay attention and then...he died too." Blaine said, bursting into tears again.

"What happened to him?" Kurt asked carefully.

"He was found dead in his apartment…five days after his actual death. He had an overdose of alcohol and drugs…a lethal cocktail." Blaine explained.

"I'm so sorry." Kurt said, sincerely. He couldn't even begin to fathom the pain Blaine must have felt with that. It was obvious for the way he was talking about his brother that for Blaine, Cooper was, indeed, some kind of superhero.

"He was my hero, Kurt, my best friend…my role model, but he died and I blame myself everyday for that. If I had only listened, if I had paid attention to the small details…if I had helped him."

"It was not your fault, Blaine…he lost himself." Kurt said, trying to help Blaine.

"But I was not there for him, Kurt. He was my brother, I was supposed to help him. The company was not his entire responsibility, my dad made it clear that we both should take care of it. But it was easy for me to pass him the entire responsibility."

"You were young, you can't blame yourself for that."

"I know that, but I also know that I made a mistake, Kurt. I know I should have done more, but that's not what hurts me the most."

"Then, what is it?"

"That I didn't call him, Kurt. I didn't worry when the people from the office called to ask me if I knew something about him. He was missing and in my stupidity I thought that he had just gone to visit his girl, and I didn't even bother to call or to go and check on him." Blaine said, crying again. "That's why, when they found him I went crazy, the pain and guilt took over me and I made myself the promise to never get attached to anyone in my life again! It's a promise that I had kept intact until recently."

"Until recently?"

"Yes, lately I've lost control of my life and my emotions."

Kurt blushed and looked away trying to hide his flushed face. A picture caught his eye and made him smile; it was one of Blaine kissing his mom's cheek. It was a very sweet and beautiful picture, but it looked weird. The way Blaine had treated her during last month's dinner was nothing like the way Blaine was looking at her in that picture.

"Blaine…can I ask you something?"

"Yes." Blaine replied, still sobbing a little.

"I cannot help but notice that you were a very close-knit family, but you and your mom don't look like that anymore. I'm sorry, but that day at the restaurant you were so distant with her that I don't know…all of these pictures tell me that it was not always like that."

"And you're right, it wasn't always like that." Blaine explained. "When my dad died and she drowned herself in depression I didn't care, I was too selfish to see her pain and I got away from her. It was the easier thing to do, but when Cooper died I blamed her for not being there for us. I told her that she had been selfish and I blamed her for everything that had happened. I'm not trying to justify myself, but try to understand...I was just a 24-year-old guy with no experience at all who alove of a sudden had to become the CEO of a major publishing company, who had to arrange the funeral of his own brother and to top that, who had to deal with a mother who had been absent for almost a year. I didn't have a minute to think things clearly, so I did what I thought it was the best for everyone...I sent her away. Using the power I had over the family money, the properties and the company, I sold the house she had with my dad here in the city and I sent her to Chicago…alone."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I didn't want her near me. I hated her, I hated everything about her. I accused her of ruining my life, though now I know she didn't do anything, and I also blamed her for Cooper's death. I said horrible things,Kurt! I told her we needed her and that she hadn't been there for us...I banished her from my life. All these years I've been using the same silly excuse that I sent her there so she could get away from this city that hold back so many memories of my dad and brother, but the truth is..." Blaine said, sobbing again. "That I didn't want her around because I had to learn to live without her just in case life decided to take her away from me too…I know it's silly, but I'm not that strong, Kurt! I won't be able to handle another loss like that."

Kurt caressed Blaine's face. Hearing the story made it all fall into place. It was as if Kurt were finally able to see the whole puzzle that was Blaine Anderson,.

"You always wanted to know why I haven't had a formal relationship before…well, there's the answer…I'm a coward. I'm afraid to be attached to a person who one day may not be with me anymore. My heart is not strong enough, Kurt. I don't want to suffer like that ever again."

"I understand that Blaine, believe me that I do." Kurt said, he knew that this was his only chance to help Blaine, so he tried to make the best of it. He was not an expert, but he had some experience. "You know that I lost a brother too, and my mom, and though I'm sure nobody can feel what you're feeling inside, I know how it feels to have a loss like that. Many times I thought the same thing you do, Blaine. I thought that my heart would not be strong enough, but I promise you that it won't break. You'd be surprised to discover how much pain oneself can handle. I know it's hard, but you cannot keep living like this forever. One day you'll have to learn to forgive yourself and understand that nothing of what happened to your brother and your dad was your fault, and you'll have to let your walls down. You'll have to try to fix your life and most importantly, you'll have to trust your heart to someone, so you can be happy again."

Blaine looked at Kurt directly in the eyes and whispered. "That's what I'm trying to do."

Kurt's heart skipped several beats and his mind tried to understand the meaning behind Blaine's words. Blaine was vulnerable, his eyes were full of tears and Kurt lost all his self-control. His mind and heart lost connection again, and he leaned closer to him.

"Blaine." He whispered, looking into those hazel eyes before closing the small distance between them and kissing him.

Blaine trembled a little under Kurt's touch. He was still afraid to let go, but Kurt's words kept ringing in his mind. _"You cannot keep living like this forever."_ So hiding all his fears and using his heart, he kissed him back. Putting into that kiss all his hopes.


	11. Chapter 11

After what felt like hours, but were actually just a couple of minutes, Kurt's common sense returned to his body and he stopped the kiss, pulling back a little.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to." He said, trying to apologize for having taken advantage of Blaine's vulnerability.

"Don't." Blaine replied, holding Kurt's face, "Please don't, I need this."

"But..."

"Shhhh..." Blaine didn't allow Kurt to keep talking and kissed him again. He needed hI'm. He was feeling all his walls crumbling down one by one, and he needed to feel close to him.

The kiss intensified and with smiles and tears of joy, they ended up having sex more than once. The couch in that room, the desktop in the studio and their bed were witnesses of what was happening between them.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine woke up with a grin on his face so huge that he thought it would break his skull. Kurt was sleeping peacefully above his chest. His beautiful pale skin was glowing slightly with the few rays of sunlight that were peeking through the blinders.

Blaine sighed. His heart felt heavy and light at the same time; heavy and full of love, and light and free of secrets. He never imagined he would feel like that after confessing his deepest feelings. He was no longer afraid and his heart was overflowing with happiness. In fact, his only fear now was not knowing what to do to make Kurt happy, after all, he was not an expert in the love field.

"Thank you dad, Coop...I know you two are behind this." He whispered, looking to the ceiling in an attempt to communicate with them.

Blaine knew deep within him that his father and his brother had, in a way, sent Kurt to be with him and help him learn how to love again. Now he could be happy and enjoy his life with Kurt; the man he knew was everything he had always wanted.

Blaine, very careful not to wake his husband, got up from bed and looked around. The room was a mess. It reminded him of the first time he had spent the night with Kurt, back when they got married. The difference was that this time there were no empty bottles on the floor and definitely no gaps in his memory. This time he could actually remember every single detail of what they had done, and it had been glorious. Smiling playfully, he recalled how life had brought them together.

"And to think I said I hated you..." He whispered

Kurt shifted a little exposing his leg. Blaine looked at him admiring his gorgeousness. He had always known it, but despite all the time they had been together, he couldn't help but admire how handsome his husband was. _My husband._

"Kurt..." He whispered, caressing Kurt's leg. "Kurt, wake up sleepyhead."

But Kurt didn't move. He was sound asleep. Blaine smiled in adoration and something came to his mind. He put on some pants and walked out from the room grabbing his keys, his phone and leaving the apartment in a hurry.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt woke up to an empty bed. He was smiling foolishly, and the images from the night before were flashing on his mind like lightning bolts in the middle of a storm. He tried to move, but his whole body was aching. Not the bad kind of aching, but the ache that only meant that he had had a very good time.

"Blaine?" He yelled, hoping he was in the bathroom.

Nobody replied. He frowned and yelled again a bit louder.

"Blaine?"

When there was no answer again, Kurt, very reluctantly got out of bed, put on his underwear that was—thank heavens—next to the bed, and walked to the bathroom. Blaine was not there either. He went to the kitchen thinking that maybe he was there eating something or maybe preparing some breakfast, but the place was deserted. He looked in the rest of the apartment, but apparently he was nowhere to be seen. Kurt freaked out a little, the doubts that were still wandering through his mind took over him and made him doubt.

So, he decided to call him.

"Please pick up, Blaine...please pick up." He said, once he heard the familiar call in progress tone, but Blaine didn't pick up.

Kurt didn't know why, but he was worried. A part of him was trying to think that there was a reasonable explanation for Blaine's absence, but another part of him, the part that was not entirely sure about Blaine, was developing a whole theory that didn't include the happy ending his heart had hoped to have this morning.

"Don't think about that, Kurt...Don't! Blaine has feelings for you, he didn't tell you with precise words last night, but he trusted you, so you have to trust him too. Maybe he just went to buy something or to the office. That's right, he probably went to the office, he didn't leave a note because he thought he'd be back before you woke up."

_'On Sunday?'_

"Yes! Sometimes he goes to the office on Sundays. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon." He was telling himself.

Kurt walked again to the room and lay down a couple of minutes, but had to stand up almost immediately because he was getting more anxious with each passing minute.

"Don't, Kurt, just don't. He'll be back. Don't worry."

He tried to calm himself down by arranging the mess that was surrounding him. He picked up the sheets and went to the studio to pick up all the clothes that were still scattered all over the place. He couldn't help looking at the pictures on the wall. He never, ever, imagined what Blaine had been keeping inside that place. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was kind of disappointed. He had been expecting to discover something sinister that could make him hate Blaine, but it hadn't been like that. On the contrary, he had discovered that Blaine's mysterious side was in fact, his most beautiful and sweet side. This room kept Blaine's heart—literally.

Kurt smiled as he realized that Blaine was not like he had first imagined. He was just a scared boy that was too afraid to suffer again because he had loved so much and had lost everything...well, almost everything, and that now didn't know how to do it without being hurt. But now Kurt knew it. Now he knew Blaine was just afraid to love again. Now he could understand the immensity of Blaine's heart.

The picture that Blaine had shown Kurt the night before was still on the floor. He picked it up and looked at it again. He had loved that picture since the first time he had laid eyes on it. But now that he had the chance to look at it closely, he loved it even more. Mainly because Blaine seemed happy, but also because his eyes sparkled like two bright stars. Kurt laughed a little. He was thinking that looking at Blaine's eyes was like looking at a sky full of stars— mesmerizing and impressive...breathtakingly impressive. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of that image. He wanted to have those eyes saved in his phone forever. He wanted to have his own Anderson's constellation saved to contemplate on nights when there were no stars in the sky.

He put the picture aside and approached the boxes stacked in the corner of the room. They were labeled with _Coop's stuff_ , _Dad's stuff_ and _my stuff_. Kurt got curious and opened the box that said _'my stuff'_.

Inside there were more pictures of Blaine's years of high school and others including Sam and some other guys, a year book, some trophies, a few CD's, some notebooks and a bunch of sheet music. He took the CD's and saw that they were labeled too; _Blaine's graduation, Canada trip, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, Coop's graduation_ , among others, but one that really caught Kurt's attention was one saying, _'Blainey's recital.'_ He got curious and took the CD to put it on the computer in the other room.

o-o-o-o-o

The video started with a pretty blonde girl who was smiling shyly at the camera. Kurt had never seen that girl before.

"Coop, stop it! You're supposed to save the tape for your brother's concert." She was saying.

"Baby, it's not a concert, it's a recital and he is going to play just one song. We don't need to save the whole tape...and believe me, I'd rather record your beautiful face than his lack of talent."

"Cooper Anderson!" Someone exclaimed, but didn't appear in the scene. It sounded like Blaine's mom. "Stop saying that about your brother! He's very talented."

"No, he's not, you're just saying that because he's your son, you're supposed to say that stuff...it's in your script." Cooper replied, sounding sarcastic. The girl on the screen rolled her eyes and said. "And you're his brother, so saying that he's not talented is in your script too. Turn off that camera and let's find our places."

The video changed and suddenly they were inside a big theater, the red curtains were still closed and there was a lot of noise and chattering coming from the people entering the place.

"Stop wasting the tape Cooper!" A male voice said. Kurt thought it was probably Blaine's dad voice.

"It's about to start...I thought you wanted to record the whole thing."

"We want, but wait until we get the last call."

The video changed again and this time a guy wearing a black tuxedo took the stage.

"Welcome to the first Dalton's Music Academy piano recital. We welcome you all to this wonderful concert. We are very pleased to have you all with us tonight and we invite you to enjoy what our students have prepared for you tonight. Before we begin with our program, we would like to welcome to the stage our Director and best teacher. Please, ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause for Mr. Hunter Clarington!"

Kurt didn't know this guy, but he had heard about that music academy. He had heard they were the best of the best when it came to music teaching. A young guy wearing a weird navvy blue blazer took the stage and began to say a few words.

"Mom, I think I'll skip all the speech and the other performances, we don't have a lot of tape." Cooper said.

"If you hadn't been wasting the entire tape Cooper Anderson, we could have had recorded everything." Blaine's mom said.

The tape changed again and the MC welcomed Blaine to the stage. Blaine entered the scenario wearing the same blazer that the director had worn and sat by the piano. He was young, maybe 17, and his hair was all gelled up like a helmet. He looked extremely cute, and Kurt couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Good night everyone." Blaine said, using the microphone by the piano. "I'm going to play a piece by Helen Jane Long called _'[Everything,'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHCBlSrPwQ0)_ I hope you like it. This is for you mom."

Kurt smiled at the screen. That had been very sweet.

The music began and Kurt lost himself in the notes. He had never heard someone play the piano the way Blaine did it. Cooper was obviously lying about his brother's lack of talent before, because Blaine was talented, very talented—breathtakingly talented in Kurt's opinion. Kurt heard the whole piece without even breathing. It had been a very beautiful piece and Blaine had done a wonderful job. Kurt cried a little. He wondered if someday he'd be able to hear Blaine play for him.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt replayed the video and when he was watching it for the 3rd time the doorbell of the apartment rang. He paused the video and went to the kitchen to allow the entrance to whoever that was at the elevator door.

"Hi, Kurt!"

"Oh! Hi, Larry! I didn't know you were coming." Kurt said, greeting the company's lawyer.

"How are you, Kurt?"

"Fine, fine thanks and you?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"I'm afraid Blaine's not home, but you can wait for him here if you want…may I offer you something to drink?" Kurt asked politely.

"No, thanks, Kurt. I didn't come here looking for Blaine. I'm here for you, actually. I brought you this." He said, handing him an envelope.

Kurt frowned a bit confused. He took the envelope and opened it.

His heart stopped. It was the divorce paperwork.

"I know you two were in a hurry to end up this marriage and well, tomorrow is November 10, so the six statutory months are more than over…one signature and you'll be free."

Kurt didn't know what to say. His heart and mind were in shock. He hadn't realized that the time they had to wait to get the divorce was over now.

"Hmmm, hmmm...I think-I think we should wait until Blaine returns home." Kurt said, unsure of what to do.

"Oh no, there's no need."

"Why not?" Kurt asked, trying to gain some time to clear his thoughts.

"He already signed." Larry said, as a matter of fact.

Kurt's heart stopped. His worst nightmares were coming true.

"He signed?" Kurt asked, his voice sounded broken, but Larry didn't notice it.

"Yes, you just need to sign them too and it's over. No harm involved and you two can go back to your own lives."

Kurt took out all the documentation and saw Blaine's signature at the bottom of every page. His heart broke into million pieces and tears began to take shape in the corner of his eyes. He fought them back and went to the table.

"Did he send you?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah..." Larry replied distracted by his phone that was suddenly ringing.

Kurt shook his head and muttered to himself, "I can't believe I was stupid enough to think that he had changed."

"Did you say something?" Larry asked, returning his attention to Kurt and putting his phone back in his pocket.

"No, do you have a pen?" He asked Larry.

Larry gave him the pen and without hesitation Kurt signed the papers. He felt stupid, used and extremely disappointed.

"Okay, so this is it! You're officially a free man!" Larry said, taking the papers. "This copy is for you and this one is for Blaine." He said, giving him two small envelopes

"Okay…thanks. Now if you don't mind, I have some things to do." Kurt said.

"Oh, yeah! Okay…well…see you around, Kurt. Have a nice day!"

"Thanks…Goodbye, Larry."

"Bye."

o-o-o-o-o

Once the lawyer was out of the apartment, Kurt allowed himself to cry. He cried and cried and ran to the room to pack his suitcase. He called Mercedes while he was picking up his last things.

 _"Hi baby...are you back already?"_ She said, knowing that her friend was supposed to be out of town until that day.

"Mercedes? Are you alone?"

 _"_ _Yes...well no, Rachel is here and Jesse too."_

"Are they next to you?"

_"No...what is it Kurt? Are you alright?"_

"No! I need you to meet me at the Plaza Hotel in 30 minutes please."

_"Why?"_

"Don't ask me right now, okay? Just meet me there and please don't tell anyone you talked to me, okay? Especially Sam, did you hear me?"

_"Yes, but what's going on? What happened? You're freaking me out...you sound weird, have you been crying?"_

"Later, okay?"

_"Okay."_

"I'm going to turn off my phone. Please if someone calls you, you haven't talked to me...if you can, turn off your phone too."

_"Okay."_

"See you later."

_"Okay."_

Kurt went to the studio and picked up some of his stuff. He took a piece of paper from the floor and walked into the small room. He wrote a note and left something there for Blaine. He looked for the last time to the pictures on the walls, closed the door and left the apartment.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine arrived to the apartment carrying two bags of food. He had gone to Kurt's favorite restaurant to get something for breakfast and to have something to surprise him when he woke up. He was smiling foolishly and humming that stupid song he had heard on the radio. He walked into the room, thinking that Kurt was probably still in bed.

"Sorry I'm late there was an accident near the 5th and I got stuck in traffic, I didn't answer the phone because I was driving and I forgot...Kurt?" He asked, when he noticed that the room was empty.

He looked in the bathroom, but Kurt was not there either. He shrugged and headed for the studio. He thought Kurt was probably there collecting their clothes or looking at the pictures again. He knew that Kurt was a very curious man and that he had probably not been able to avoid snooping again now that he was allowed to be there. He came in and felt that something was wrong. The main studio looked empty. He knew something was missing, but he shrugged and went into the second room. The place was clean and above the piano there was a painting and a note. Blaine looked at it confused and read it out loud.

_"Blaine. Thanks for all the amazing time we lived together. You're a wonderful man and I wish you all the best in life. I hope one day you're able to find what you're looking for. Don't worry about your confession, I won't say a word to anyone, your life is only yours and I won't betray your trust. It really meant a lot to me. Like I told you yesterday, I know that one day you'll be able to understand that nothing that happened to your dad and brother was your fault. I hope you can fix things with your mom and that you learn to forgive yourself so you can love again. I take with me all the wonderful moments we shared, all the weird situations we lived and all the fun we had…I guess I'll see you around someday. PS: the painting is for you, so you never forget me. I think you got the soul of it even before I could understand it myself…with love, Kurt."_

Blaine took the painting; it was the same painting that he had described to him as a chaotic order. Below the painting there was an envelope. He opened it cautiously and saw a copy of the divorce paperwork. He cursed and pulled out his phone. He dialed Kurt's number, but his phone was off so he called Larry. He knew he was responsible for what had happened.

"What the fuck did you do?" He said, as soon as the latter picked up the phone.

_"Blaine?"_

"What the fuck did you do?"

_"I don't understand."_

"You made Kurt sign the papers!"

 _"Oh that…well, you told me yourself you wanted to end this, so I just did my job, Blaine."_ The lawyer said.

"Yes I know I said that, but that was months ago, Larry! Why didn't you call me first?"

_"I thought you'd be there."_

"Then why didn't you wait for me? What did you tell him? Why did he sign?" Blaine asked alarmed.

 _"Nothing, I just told him that-"_ Larry bit his tongue. Now he was recalling Kurt's sad eyes and knew that he had screwed things up big time.

"What?" Blaine asked, clearly pissed.

_"Oh, God! I'm so sorry, Blaine! I didn't know you two were trying to make it work."_

"Shut the fuck up, Larry! And answer me! What did you tell him?"

_"That you had sent me and that you had already signed the papers."_

"Damn you, Larry! Damn You!" Blaine said, hanging the phone.

He desperately called Kurt again, but his phone was still off. He cursed himself, took his car keys and went out to try to find him.


	12. Chapter 12

Some weeks passed and Kurt's exhibition was just around the corner. He hadn't had time to breathe or even worry about the whole divorce thing. He was back in his own life and even though his heart was completely broken, he was starting to move on and writing a new chapter of his life without Blaine in it.

"Just breathe and smile...everything is going to be okay." Mercedes said, as she tried to fix Kurt's hair.

"I'm very nervous." Kurt confessed.

"No reason to be…everybody is going to love your work. Just wait and see, where's Rachel?"

"Her plane is delayed, so she'll be here later."

"Okay, then let's go…it's time!"

Mercedes and Kurt walked toward the entrance of the main gallery where a large red ribbon had been placed. All of his friends were there. The place was crowded and Kurt couldn't help but scan the people there in hope to spot certain face that he wished could be there supporting him.

"Kurt, he's not here." Mercedes told him.

"Who?" Kurt asked, avoiding his friend's rolling eyes.

"Blaine. Sam told me he was not coming."

"I wasn't looking for him."

"Of course you were, baby…I know, okay? But you need to move on. You haven't talked to him since you signed the papers."

"I know, but I was still hoping he could be here…I sent him the invitation."

"I know, but he's not…time to turn the page."

"Yeah, probably you're right."

"Kurt! Ready?" Elliott yelled, approaching them from the other side of the gallery.

"Yeah, and you?"

"Ready my friend. Let's kill them!" He said, smiling broadly.

Elliott and Kurt had worked together in a very last minute collaboration for the exhibition. Kurt wanted to add some digital things to the exhibition and Elliott had volunteered himself for the task. They were a pretty good working team.

"Let's kill them then!"

o-o-o-o-o

Elliott and Kurt cut the ribbon and inaugurated the exhibition. As part of the initial folklore, Kurt gave a brief tour around the exhibition explaining the paintings and sculptures around the gallery. Everybody was thrilled with the whole concept.

"Tell us more about the concept surrounding the exhibition." Someone asked.

"It's a little journey about my own life. I tried to give you, as spectators, a glimpse into my heart and mind. The concept runs in the line of creating a mystical journey through the deepest parts of our own feelings. From the complexity of a tear to the simplicity of a smile."

"We've seen your work and you always tend to use color as your weapon for expression, can you tell us more about the meaning behind the color in this exhibition?"

"There's not a meaning in itself…as you already pointed out, I try to use color as a way to express my emotions. I usually don't use a pattern or a particular pantone to describe the same emotion. I think that's why I try to use small texts and poems. I write them to help me express the meaning behind each painting or sculpture."

"Now that you bring that up, we were pleasantly surprised by all the quotes around the exhibition. Have you considered the possibility of becoming a writer?"

Kurt laughed. "No, not at all. I mean, I respect the work of the writers and I wouldn't dare to try to steal their spotlight. I just think that every artist has more than one way to express art. For me writing is one of them, I like to use the power of the words to express aloud what my work is trying to show."

"But your work should express that by itself, don't you think? Without the help of the _'power of the words'_ as you point out."

"Totally, but I want every single one of you to understand my work, and since not all of you are art experts, I like to add the texts to help those who are unable to see the obvious."

"What about the digital part? How did you come to that?"

"Well, it was a very last minute part of the process, you know? I was going through a very difficult time in my personal life and well...I wanted to express my feelings beyond the physical way and I had the extraordinary pleasure of working with Elliott Gilbert, and all the credit for that part is just for him." Kurt replied.

"Oh, no, no, no my friend, Kurt, doesn't give himself enough credit. I just helped him with the computer and stuff, but the whole concept and idea are entirely up to him…he's the true artist here." Elliott added, smiling proudly at his friend.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was walking anxiously around his apartment. He was mad, every corner of it was surrounded by memories. Some of them beautiful, some of them not so good, but in general all he could do was smile. Today was Kurt's exhibition and although he had the invitation he was not sure if going would be a good idea, so not knowing what else to do he walked to his special room.

Blaine looked at the pictures on the wall and grabbed one in which he appeared with his brother. It was a funny picture, they were arguing over who should be the one to give the toast at the Gala event of that year and his mother had captured the moment.

"You'd be there already, wouldn't you? Stealing the spotlight with your endless charm!" He said, pointing to his brother's face. "And probably calling me like every damn minute to bring my ass there to support the man I love."

He moved to another picture. It was one of his dad and he, when Blaine was just a toddler. Blaine was seated in his dad's chair at his office pretending to be him and his dad was watching him tenderly from behind.

"Who would have thought that this picture would become true, dad? Now your chair is my chair, old man." He said, smiling warmly. "Sometimes I wonder what would you have thought of Kurt? I know you would have loved him. He likes classical music just like you, he loves art, he's a very talented man and a good person, he makes me a better man...I'm sure he's what you wanted for me."

Blaine was having this little chat with himself, but deep down he was just looking for some courage to grab his keys and drive all the way to the museum. He looked around and saw the painting that Kurt had given him; it was now placed in a very special spot hanging above the piano. He remembered the first time he saw it, and with a broad smile he walked out the room.

o-o-o-o-o

When the tour ended everyone cheered for Kurt and Elliott. They were gathered around a private area enjoying some appetizers.

"Way to go, Kurt! This exhibition is exquisite! You're a very talented man! I'm so glad you invited me! I thought that after, you know? That you divorced Blaine you wouldn't want me to come." Luisa said.

"Oh, thank you, Luisa. And no, not at all. I wouldn't let my personal problems to interfere with my professional life. I'm so glad you're here and that you're enjoying the exhibition."

"It's extraordinary! Too bad it didn't work between you and Blaine, you two looked so in love and happy together that I still find it hard to believe that you're not together anymore." She said.

"Yeah…"

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

"We didn't get along well." Kurt said, trying to run away from that conversation as soon as possible.

"I can't believe it! After how you two were at the Gala I could have sworn you two were meant to be." She said.

That last comment made Kurt's heart to clench, but he just smiled apologetically.

"Well, I can see that even though you two are no longer together, he's still a very important part of this exhibition. You can smell the love in every painting and see the passion in every sculpture."

Kurt blushed. He didn't know he had been so obvious about his feelings through his work. In that moment Sam approached them and Kurt couldn't be more delighted to see him.

"Hi, Luisa…glad to see you! If you don't mind I'm going to steal Kurt for a minute."

"Hi, Sam! No, not at all…thanks again Kurt and congratulations!"

Kurt nodded and smiled politely, walking away with Sam.

As soon as they were away from Luisa, Kurt murmured, "Thank you…impeccable timing!"

Sam laughed. "No problem, I know she's very nosy and she'd be dying to know more about you and Blaine."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Congratulations, Kurt! Your work is wonderful! Really man! I've never been a fan of the arts, painting and that stuff, but you certainly made me change my mind! Your work is amazing!"

"Thanks, Sam! I'm glad you liked it!"

"I know this is probably not the best time, but I just wanted you to know that Blaine would have loved to be here…I know him and I know he's dying to be here tonight, but he's busy and couldn't make it."

Kurt rolled his eyes. He got mad just by hearing that name because even away from his life Blaine was constantly appearing — and it was still painful. He was also upset with himself because deep down, he had hoped for Blaine to suddenly show up, but he had disappointed him…again.

"Please, Sam, can I ask you something? Don't talk to me about him, okay? If he'd wanted to be here, he would be here. I sent him an invitation and he's not here, so don't try to make him look good. I know him probably as much as you do, and I'm not surprised at all that he's not here. So please, Sam, I don't want to hear from him ever again. I know you're his friend and I'm glad he has you in his life. I know he needs you, but I really don't want to know anything about him, okay? He's in the past and I'm moving on with my life, so…"

"Yeah, sorry Kurt. I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted you to know that-"

"Okay, don't worry! I know that you care for him and you're just trying to make things light between us, but please…I don't want to hear anything, okay?"

"Okay."

"Thanks…now enjoy the snacks and make some room for the after party, I heard Rachel made a whole menu of desserts just for us!"

"I'll do! Thanks and congrats!"

"Thanks."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was waiting outside the gallery. He had saw Sam and some of Kurt's friends leaving the place and had hidden behind a group of people. He didn't want them to see him there. He just wanted to see Kurt's work and probably talk to him, though he still was not entirely sure about the last part.

He entered the gallery and his jaw dropped. The exhibition was breathtaking even from the entrance. His eyes were open widely. He looked around and saw a girl standing near the door.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir?"

"For the temporary exhibition which door do I need to take to start the tour?"

"I'm sorry sir, but that exhibition is still not open to the public yet. Do you have an invitation?"

"Yes, here." Blaine said, handing her the envelope.

The girl looked at it and checked the guests list.

"Welcome Mr. Anderson, you can start here. Take this." The girl said, handing him a brochure.

Blaine took it and his heart stopped when he read the text.

_"Chaotic Order…by Kurt Hummel. There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself. What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher. What we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish. There is no free will. There are no variables… (Chuck Palahniuk)."_

"Oh, God! Chaotic order..." Blaine whispered. His heart was pumping loudly, and his hands were sweating and shaking like crazy.

He walked in and started watching the exhibition. He didn't expect what he was seeing. He was astonished; his eyes couldn't handle all the images, figures, lights, and forms he was witnessing. Kurt had exceeded the limits of creativity. This was, by far, an experience he had never had before.

"I was here at the opening! Too bad you were late and missed it! You girls should have heard the explanation of the artist. It was terrific! He's talented and sooooo cute…a total babe!" A girl said.

Blaine smiled playfully and got near to try to hear more about Kurt.

"What's his name?" One of the other girls asked.

"Kurt Hummel and the guy who made all the lights and digital stuff is a guy named Elliott Gilbert, or something. It's at the back of the brochure."

Blaine turned around his paper. Elliott's name was there. Blaine wasn't surprised. He knew Elliott also worked at the museum, though he was very impressed because he had never considered Elliott talented enough, but the collaboration in Kurt's exhibition had proven him wrong.

"Come on, girls! Let me take you to the best part! It's over here, just behind this wall." The girl said, disappearing behind a wall.

Blaine hurried up and followed the girls. When he turned around the wall his whole body froze. In front of him there was a huge double high wall of about 10 to 12 feet that had 8 paintings hanging in a three/three grid. There was not middle painting and the rest of the paintings seemed to follow a pattern. The ensemble was breathtakingly impressive. At the left side of the paintings was the usual quote.

_"…And then you told me it was chaos and order. At first I didn't get it, but now I do, and I don't think it's what you said. I think it's love...and I know I'm right, because love is chaos and order itself. Look at it! Love makes no sense! It shakes you up, spins you around, settles you down, gives you a purpose and can break you in half…when something is missing."_

"The artist said that these paintings were the essence of this exhibition, but he also said that we would never be able to see the whole picture." The girl explained to her friends.

"What? I don't understand." Some other girl said.

"Yes, that part was tricky. He said that something was missing from this ensemble. He said that just one person in the world besides him could be able to see the _'whole'_ picture. Some guy of a magazine asked him if he could put the missing painting some day and he just smiled and answered that he didn't have it."

"He doesn't have it?" One of the girls asked.

"Apparently no, I heard some guys saying that maybe he used the painting of some other artist as inspiration for this piece and didn't get the permission to include it as part of the exhibition, or maybe he really doesn't have it and he just said it to give some mystery to the paintings, but either way, they are brilliant! Don't you think?"

"Completely." The two other girls agreed.

Blaine was speechless. He was watching the ensemble of paintings and tears were running down his face. He knew who was that other person. It was himself. He was remembering the painting he had hanging at his house and it fitted perfectly in the middle of that setting. The girls kept walking and he was left alone just contemplating the paintings. He was reading and re-reading the quote. His heart was excited, he wanted to believe he was right and that everything related to that piece was for and about him. He was smiling and staring at the wall when someone yelled his name.

"Blaine!"

Blaine jumped a little, quickly wiping his tears. He turned around and greeted politely.

"Oh! Hi, Rachel!"

"I thought you wouldn't come! I'm so glad to see you, it's been a while."

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you too."

"You remember Jesse, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. Hi, Jesse." Blaine said greeting Jesse, who was looking intently at the paintings.

"Hi, Blaine…wow this time Kurt really blew my mind!"

"Yeah…he did an excellent job!" Rachel added.

"Completely." Blaine agreed.

"Have you seen him?" Rachel asked.

"No, I just arrived."

"Us too…we missed the opening as well, I guess we'll see you at the after party, right?"

"Yeah…" Blaine replied, being evasive. He wasn't planning on attending that party.

"This is by far his best work…Look at the paintings! I think he really transmitted the message with this setting." Rachel said, looking at Blaine.

Blaine felt exposed and knew that maybe he was reading too much into the paintings, so he tried to escape.

"I'll go find Kurt…see you later guys." Blaine lied.

"Yeah…see you later." Both replied.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine started walking toward the exit. He was overwhelmed and had to run away. He was practically running when he saw Kurt, he was standing all-alone near a sculpture.

Blaine's heart stopped the moment Kurt looked up — blue eyes meeting hazel after some weeks of not seeing each other.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked, with obvious surprise in his voice.

"Hi…" Blaine replied coyly.

"Oh my God! I thought you wouldn't come!" Kurt said, sounding more excited than he originally planned.

"Well, I promised you I'd be here. Sorry I'm late…I was, hmmmm…busy."

"Don't worry! I'm glad you made it! Wow! Thank you so much for coming!"

The atmosphere between them was not tense, but very uncomfortable. They had a lot of things to say, but neither of them knew how or if it was what they had to do at the moment. The place didn't seem right.

"Congratulations, your work is amazing!" Blaine said, smiling politely.

"Have you seen all of it?"

"Well, not precisely…" Blaine said, quickly glancing to the door.

"Were you leaving?" Kurt asked, following Blaine's gaze.

"No." He said, looking down. "Well, yes…" He confessed, unable to lie to Kurt.

"Why?"

"If I say I don't know, would you believe me?"

"Maybe…" Kurt replied smiling.

"Then I don't know."

Kurt smiled friendly. "You want a tour?"

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Then, come. Let's start this in section one."

o-o-o-o-o

They walked awkwardly toward the entrance. Both were nervous and looking at the floor. Kurt was the first one to try to break the ice.

"And what happened to the big contract that you were so excited about?" He asked.

"We got it."

"Really? Wow! Congrats!" Kurt exclaimed excited, but remembering what that really meant, he added. "But wait! You said you would need to travel to Europe if you got it. What happened?"

"Yeah, but I sent someone else to do the job."

"Why?" Kurt asked curiously.

"I had my reasons to stay in New York." Blaine said, slightly smiling at Kurt.

Kurt was just about to ask what were those reasons when someone interrupted them. Kurt rolled his eyes when he heard his name being shouted from the other side of the main foyer.

"God! Not now!" He whispered.

"Who is he?" Blaine asked confused.

"My new assistant." Kurt replied annoyed. "But he suffocates me! I've been trying to avoid him all night." He said, smiling and greeting the guy who had just arrived.

"Kurt! Kurt! You won't believe what I got for you!"

"Chandler…may I introduce you to Blaine Anderson. Blaine this is Chandler, my assistant."

"A pleasure." Chandler replied, taking Blaine's hand and returning his attention to Kurt. "Sorry for interrupting Kurt, but A+ magazine is here! And they want to make a short interview for an article they are going to publish about your exhibition!"

"Oh, God! Really? Wow!" Kurt exclaimed excited.

"Yes, I know. I'm the best assistant. But you need to come with me right now! They won't stay long."

"Blaine, would you mind waiting me for half an hour?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll wait here."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Okay, don't go anywhere…I'll be here as soon as I can!"

"Okay." Blaine replied, watching Kurt walking away to greet the people from the magazine.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt was smiling and answering the questions as quickly as possible. He wanted to finish soon so he could go back and talk to Blaine. He didn't want to admit it, but having him there made everything almost perfect. He was just finishing when he saw someone approaching him. He smiled broadly and excused himself. He had to talk to that person right away.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked excited.

"I wouldn't have missed this for anything in the world." The man replied smiling.

"Oh my God, Noah! I'm so glad to see you!" Kurt said, hugging his friend in a very familiar way.

"We brought these for you. I told Quinn that red roses were a bit out of place, but she insisted they were the ones that Finn would have brought for you today, so here…" Noah said, handing Kurt the roses. "Take this as a gift from the three of us."

"Oh God!" Kurt said, taking the flowers and wiping some tears that were now rolling down his face.

"Don't cry!" Noah said, helping him with the tears and hugging him tightly.

"I'm so happy to see you." Kurt said, stepping back from the embrace. "And where's Quinn?"

"She's watching the exhibition, I came looking for you because I didn't want to walk around carrying those flowers."

Kurt laughed loudly and hugged him again. Having Noah there was like having a part of Finn with him too, and that made everything perfect. Now the two most important men in his life were with him in a way on his very special day — Blaine and Finn.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was watching the whole scene from afar and his heart broke. According to his eyes it was clear that Kurt had someone new in his life. It was too late for them, so he took a deep breath, shrugged defeated and walked away without saying goodbye.


	13. Chapter 13

Kurt was working home. He was very tired after all the heavy weeks he had had since the exhibition and the following festivities. His father, stepmother and some friends had come to the city to spend the holidays and he hadn't had enough time to rest. It was a new year and he had decided to start a new life. He had some proposals to start a new exhibition, but he was still analyzing whether to accept them or not. He was still not in the mood for painting or anything.

When he was filling some reports for the museum on some new pieces they had acquired for the permanent exhibition about Picasso, someone entered the loft.

"I love to kidnap you from a good day of work." Mercedes was telling to someone.

"And I love when you do that." Sam replied.

"You're such a pushover…you're weak."

"Perhaps I am…though I have to admit that I can't resist to your charms. You're my kryptonite." Sam said, clearly smiling.

"Then, let's make the most of your now day off from work, and let's enjoy our little time together!" She said, using her sexy voice.

Kurt blushed and rolled his eyes. Now he was stuck in his room for who knows how long because he was sure that his friend was about to have sex with her boyfriend in the living room.

"Wait, wait, wait…we can't do it in here." Sam said.

"Why not?" She asked playfully.

"Because someone can see us. I love to be with you and everything, but I'm not an exhibitionist, baby."

"Neither am I, but nobody is going to see us. Rachel is still out of town with Jesse, apparently their vacations got extended, and Kurt is working at the museum and he arrives late, so nobody is going to enter in the next few hours."

"How is he?" Sam asked, getting distracted, as usual.

"Who? Kurt?"

"Yes, Kurt…I talked to him at the exhibition and he got mad when I talked about Blaine and then...well, I haven't been around enough to really talk to him, but from what I got during our little chat at the exhibition, I think he hasn't forgiven Blaine yet."

"Duh! Of course he hasn't! Blaine was and still is a complete pain in the ass! A total jerk if you ask me." Mercedes said, defending Kurt.

"Hey, hey, hey stop right there lady! My buddy is not the only one who screwed things up in this relationship! Kurt is not so innocent, sometimes I think he's a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"He is not! Why do you say that? What do you have against him?" Mercedes asked a little annoyed.

"Nothing! Well, maybe I do have some problems with him and don't try to defend him, Mercedes. He's not the innocent you're always stating that he is! He also hurt my friend! Did you know he already has a boyfriend?"

"Who? Kurt? No, he has not." Mercedes said laughing.

"Well, I think you're not very well informed, baby, because as far as I know he already has one. A very cute one according to my sources."

"Well, I'm afraid, _'baby,'_ that you'll have to tell me who the hell are your _'sources,'_ because I'm his best friend and no, he does not have a boyfriend."

"Are you completely sure he's not hiding that from you?"

"Please, Sam! We know each other since high school. Do you seriously think that he'd keep something like that away from me? I don't think so! We know everything about each others lives. Besides, I live with him. Trust me! I'd know if he was seeing or dating someone."

"But Blaine said he saw him with a guy." Sam murmured confused.

"Blaine? Really? He's your _'source'_?" Mercedes asked stunned, and murmured "Unbelievable!" under her breath.

"Yes, he saw them."

"When and where? Are you completely positive that Blaine saw Kurt and not someone else who looked like Kurt?"

"Yes, positive! He didn't see them at some random place. It was at the exhibition…that's why he left." Sam said as a matter of explanation.

Kurt was now practically at the door trying to listen more clearly. He didn't know — until now — why Blaine had gone from the exhibition without saying goodbye and he wanted to know who was his supposed boyfriend.

"He left because of that?" Mercedes asked intrigued.

"Yes, that's the reason why he also left the country." Sam replied almost in a whisper.

"Wait! He's not in the country? Why didn't you tell me? I thought he was out of town with his mom or something, but not in another country."

"Yeah, he's not here…and I didn't tell you because since they divorced every fucking time I mention my friend you get mad at me and start saying horrible things about him, and he's like my brother…and that hurts."

"Sorry baby, I know I've been a little bitchy about him, but you need to understand that Kurt is my very best friend and what Blaine did to him was not fair."

"What Blaine did to him? I think I can say the same thing about your friend, don't you think? I'm afraid we'll always have two very different points of view about this story."

"You think?"

"I'm sure! I know Blaine and despite your opinion about him, I know he's a good man with a huge, huge heart and though you don't believe me, I'm perfectly capable of recognizing that he has millions of flaws, but he's not all the bad things you think he is, he wouldn't dare to hurt Kurt on purpose."

"Okay, I don't know the guy as you do, but you do have to recognize that he has done some things that are pretty stupid."

"I know, and he knows that too."

"Okay, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt…and I really don't like that we always end up fighting because of them. I think the only solution for us is to try to understand both sides of the story and for that we'll have to trust in each other. I love you and that why I'm willing to propose this."

"What?" Sam asked petulantly.

"Why don't you tell me your side of the story and I tell you mine?" Mercedes suggested.

Kurt was about to come out to stop the conversation right there. He didn't want Mercedes to share his feelings about Blaine with anyone, let alone with Sam, but deep down he wanted to know Blaine's side of the story, so he waited until hearing Sam's response to the insane plan.

"Hmmm, I don't know. I don't want to betray Blaine's trust."

"You won't have to. You can just give me a general idea of your story. I won't ask all the details about Blaine's personal life. I know, thanks to Kurt, that that's a very sensible subject…so don't worry, I'll respect that."

"Okay, but you have to promise me first that you won't tell a single word about any of this to Kurt! If Blaine finds out I told you about his feelings he's going to kill me! Literally! And I value my life."

"Okay, I promise! But you promise me too that you won't tell a word to Blaine either! Deal?"

"Deal." Sam agreed.

"Okay, I'm listening…shoot!"

Kurt hesitated whether or not to interrupt, finally he decided to let them continue with the whole sharing stories thing. After all, he also wanted to know everything that Sam had to say about Blaine.

"First, the exhibition. You already know that Kurt was a little mad at me because I talked to him about Blaine, but I just did it because I was sure he wasn't going to show up. I had talked to him in the morning and he had told me he had no intention to go, not because he didn't want to, he was dying to go, but because it was still very painful for him. Anyways, I didn't know Blaine had actually gone until Monday. Do you remember I received a call during the after party?"

"Oh, yeah! The guy from the office…yes, I remember."

"Yes, Harry called because he had instructions to call everyone at the directive board because there would be some last minute changes. The orders came from the top so obviously I was intrigued because the _'top'_ is Blaine, and I didn't know what was going on, so I called him. He didn't reply and that's why I left the party to go to his house, but he was not there either. On Monday, I didn't have the chance to talk to him in the morning. He was busy and I saw him until the final meeting where he announced he was going to be away for an unlimited period of time."

"What?"

"Yes, it was a shock to everybody because we had already sent the team to work abroad, so there was no apparent need for him to go too." Sam explained.

"Wait! The team to work abroad? In what?"

"The transnational cruisers contract?"

"Oh, yeah sorry! Okay, go on."

"Well, after the meeting I talked to him in his office and he told me about Kurt's boyfriend-"

"Kurt's _supposed_ boyfriend." Mercedes corrected him.

"Well, yes…whatever. He told me he had decided to go away because he needed to let go of Kurt. Obviously I wasn't following him, so I asked him what had happened and he told me that he had gone to the exhibition after all, and that he had had the chance to talk to Kurt and that everything was fine until he saw him with this other guy."

"Which guy?"

"I don't know who he is, he just told me that a tall, toned and very handsome guy had approached Kurt and that he had even brought him flowers. Red roses according to him, and Blaine was completely shattered. He told me that Kurt hugged that guy in a very familiar way and that the guy had caressed his face in a very tender way. I felt so bad for my friend...did you know he only stayed in New York because he wanted to go to Kurt's exhibition and was hoping to get back with him some day?"

"No."

"Well, he did that and that's a fact. But that doesn't matter anymore because he's no longer here. Anyway, he told me that he just wanted to see Kurt happy and that now he knew that that was not possible with him, so he left and I was named temporary president of the company and-"

"Stop right there! You're running the company, for real?"

"Yes, I didn't tell you either because I had instructions not to reveal my temporary position and the fact that he's not here because that could cause some financial problems."

"Okay I won't get mad at you because I understand that, but let me make one thing clear before you continue defending your friend. Blaine is completely, totally and irrevocably insane! The guy who gave Kurt the flowers at the exhibition was Noah."

"Noah? Puckerman?" Sam asked confused.

"Yes, the one who is _married_ to Quinn?"

"Damn! Really? Was it really him?"

"Yes, Noah was Kurt's brother best friend and obviously he sees Kurt as a brother too. The red roses were a very, very tender and sweet touch because those were Finn's favorites and well, he and his wife thought that red roses were a good idea because if Finn was still with us, he'd have brought those for Kurt…his brother."

"Oh, God! Shit! Really?"

"Yes, your friend really needs to trust in people…especially in Kurt! For heaven's sake! If he was at the exhibition he certainly saw the paintings! It's obvious that they were all meant for him! Kurt never really accepted it in fine words, but I know they were! As I told you before, he's my best friend…I know him as well as I know myself."

"I know, I don't know Kurt that much, but even I could see the hints here and there at the exhibition. God! Blaine's going to be pretty mad when he learns he screwed things up again!"

"Remember you promised not to tell him!"

"Yes and I won't, but he has to come back some day and he's going to see that Kurt is single and maybe he asks and damn!"

"If that happens, you'll let someone else to tell him…you have to keep your mouth sealed."

"Yes, sorry…don't worry I won't tell him. Now I feel really bad."

"Why?"

"I judged Kurt harshly. I even started treating him pretty bad."

"So that's the reason behind your sudden change of heart about him and all your sarcastic innuendos?"

"Yes, but try to understand me, I'd never seen Blaine so broken before and he's my friend. No, he's not my friend, he's my brother! The day they divorced, he was desperate. He looked Kurt everywhere! You should have seen his face when he came to my house that same night. He was completely heartbroken."

"Heartbroken? Do not exaggerate, Sam! If he didn't want to divorce why did he sign the papers and sent the lawyer?" Mercedes asked.

"Well, for your information he didn't send the lawyer and he signed those papers back in May."

"Come again?"

"Those papers were signed since May, Mercedes. Two days after they married Blaine signed those damn papers. I was there…I saw him signing them."

"Damn! Really?"

"Yes! And I know you believe otherwise, but Blaine really loves Kurt, probably since the day they met. The same Sunday they divorced he texted me. It was still very early in the morning, but he told me he had told Kurt all about his family and that they had kissed and shared an amazing night together, and that he thought that they could give it a try to their marriage. I still have those messages. He was the happiest guy in the fucking planet."

"Can I see them?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes." Sam agreed.

Kurt was crying silently, listening to all the series of misfortunes that had separated them and wishing he could be able to read those messages too.

Some minutes passed where neither Sam nor Mercedes were speaking. Kurt was desperate to know about the messages.

"Oh my God! If only Kurt could read these messages." Mercedes murmured.

"I know, that day I even cried with happiness because I thought I would never be able to see my friend being happy again…If you had known him before things became complicated with him, you'd have been happy for him too. It was such a relief to hear that he was willing to give it a try to his marriage and that he was finally letting his walls down allowing Kurt to be part of his life and trusting him with his heart. But life is not fair and when he arrived home…Kurt was gone."

"Well, you cannot judge Kurt because of that. He knew nothing of what you're saying. Kurt told me that the lawyer made it look like if Blaine had sent him to get rid of him…it was pretty rude. Your friend never really said he was in love with Kurt in exact words and Kurt needed those words. Kurt's heart was broken that's why he signed."

"And Blaine knows it, he even fired Larry and tried to find Kurt, but he was who knows where and then…well, Blaine has never been the guy who knows how to cope with emotions, so he did what he knows best."

"What?"

"He hid himself again."

"Oh, God."

"I know! He built up those stupid walls again and took refuge in work. He worked harder than ever and focused all his energies in trying to get the transnational cruisers contract. When we finally got it, I thought he would want to go with the working team to coordinate the contract himself, but he didn't…I questioned him about it and you know what he told me?"

"No." Mercedes said.

"That he knew he had lost Kurt, but that he was willing to get him back. He told me he had made himself a new promise and that he'll become the man that Kurt deserved and that when he was ready he'd fight for him again."

"Then why didn't he do it?"

"Because the day he decided to put the walls down again, he thought Kurt had move on."

"The exhibition."

"Indeed."

"God! And now we know that's total bullshit because Kurt never moved on. He says he's not in love with him anymore, but I'm pretty sure he's still crazy about him!"

"Well, that makes two of them because Blaine is crazy, and by crazy I mean insanely in love with Kurt. You know it's the first time Blaine falls for someone?"

"No…"

"It is…when we were younger the social pressure and the prejudices overwhelmed him and he became insecure about relationships. When we were in college, I thought that that would change because times were different, but his dad passed away and his heart became a fortress impossible to penetrate."

Kurt was crying with a pillow over his face. He had just heard what he so many times wanted to hear. He was cursing himself for having signed those papers and for being so insecure about Blaine's feelings, after all he had known it since the day he had told him his deepest fears and pains. Blaine loved him.

Kurt wanted to run and find him; he wanted to tell him that he loved him too, but he was trapped in his room and Blaine was away who knows where.

"Where is he now?" Mercedes asked intrigued, and Kurt thanked the universe for his friend's curiosity.

"He's in Barcelona, but next week he's supposed to be heading to Italy. We have the meeting with the major associates on Saturday, I think."

"Sam…"

"What?"

"Do you think that if you...hmmm, tell him what I told you about Kurt, he would come back to try to fix his relationship with him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because he's not going to believe me. He has a very shitty opinion about himself. He considers himself a person unworthy of any kind of love or affection…he won't believe Kurt is single and in love with him. The only way he's going to understand that is by listening to Kurt saying it himself."

Kurt knew that what Sam was saying was nothing but the truth. Blaine had a very shitty opinion about himself and he was stubborn enough not to hear his best friend.

"And, what about Kurt? Do you think he would be willing to give Blaine a second chance?" Sam asked.

"Well, if he knew what you told me of course he would, the problem is that he won't listen either. As soon as I pronounce Blaine's name he's going to shut me up and change the subject."

Kurt rolled his eyes and cursed in silence because he knew that Mercedes was telling the truth too.

"Then I'm afraid we can't do anything for them."

"I'm afraid we cannot and that's a shame."

"Yeah, Kurt has been the best thing that's ever happened to Blaine."

Kurt stopped crying and fired up his laptop. He had an idea. If Blaine could not come home, then he would go find him. He searched and booked a flight to Italy. He needed to find Blaine and tell him he loved him.

"You want to go some place to eat? I'm not in the mood to be home anymore." Mercedes said a little blue

"Yeah, let's go. I'm not in the mood either…I feel bad for both of them."

"Yeah, me too."

"It's bad for us to know the whole truth and not be able to help them."

"Yeah…"

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was walking through the streets of Barcelona; he was enjoying his last days in the city. His mind was wandering lost in the beauty of the landscape and the awesomeness of the traditions that this city had. He was near the Picasso's museum and his heart skipped a beat. Everything related to some kind of art was a reminder of Kurt.

He smiled sadly and took out his phone. His screen background was a picture of Kurt's painting. He smiled at it and kept walking, avoiding the entrance of the museum. It was still too painful to even try it. He was still having trouble trying to keep Kurt out of his mind and heart.

He sighed.

He was starting to wonder if he would ever be able to think of Kurt just as someone special from his past, as that dream that never came true...as a memory.


	14. Chapter 14

Despite all the efforts that Kurt had put into finding Blaine in Italy, he had no luck. Kurt stayed there almost three weeks, but he couldn't find him anywhere. He was tempted more than once to call Sam to ask him for Blaine's address, but he didn't do it. First, because he knew he wasn't supposed to know that information and second, because he was sure that if they were meant to find each other, they would do it naturally without any help, but from destiny itself.

"So? What happened?" Elliott asked intrigued when Kurt returned to the city.

"Nothing! I couldn't find him."

"Then, why didn't you call him?"

Kurt remained silent. He didn't want to answer that question.

"Kurt..." Elliott insisted. "Why didn't you call him?"

"Because I didn't want that for us Ell. I wanted, and still want, things to happen naturally between us. When I was there, I had plenty of time to think about everything and came to the conclusion that I cannot force things between us. I know it sounds crazy, but I think that when you're meant to be with someone then you'll be with that someone no matter what. That's what I want for us. If we are truly meant to be together then we will be...when? I don't know, but we will."

"Oh, God! You're completely out of your mind! I can't believe you wasted that opportunity!"

"I didn't waste it. I used the trip to think…It really helped me."

"Yeah, right...keep telling yourself that."

"Ell..."

"It's the truth, Kurt! There are doors that only open once...what if you two never have the chance to be together again? What if he takes too long to return? Or better yet, what if he never comes back?"

Kurt sighed. He knew that what Elliott was saying was a huge possibility.

"Then, I guess I'll have to learn to live without him."

Elliott rolled his eyes. His friend was undoubtedly out of his mind.

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was looking at a painting hanging on the office of the senior associate with whom he was meeting in London.

"You like it?" The guy asked.

"Yes, it's beautiful. It reminds me of another artist that I…hmmm, know in New York. Who's this painting from?" Blaine asked.

"A guy named Valero, he's from Spain. He's a very talented artist. He had an exhibition here a few months ago and he gave me that painting as a gift for some help I provided him."

"You know him?"

"Yes, he's friends with my wife…is amazing, isn't it?"

"Absolutely! Breathtaking even."

"I know! There's so much talent around the world and very few people supporting it. After seeing his work I helped him with some sponsorship so he could take his exhibition to other places."

"Really? Wow, that was very nice of you. I mean, to help your wife's friend."

"Yes, I did it because he's my wife's friend, but I also did it because I love art and I think that we — people with financial stability — can actually do something to help this huge group of talented artists around the world."

"I think you're right…we should do that more often."

"Yeah! Well, back to business…did you have the chance to read the details for the first contract?"

"Yes."

o-o-o-o-o

It was almost May again, a year ago Kurt had married Blaine at a crazy party. Destiny had separated them, but Kurt still thought about him more frequently than he would like to admit. At work everything was fine and though Kurt was very busy he still tried to make some time to have fun with his friends. Today, Mercedes was going to be performing at a cozy bar in the evening, and although Kurt was not in mood for crowded places he agreed to go.

"Kurt! I thought you wouldn't come!" Rachel said, once Kurt arrived with Elliott. "Hello to you too, Ell, Jesse was hoping to see you. He says you're a complete New Yorker now. You officially never have time for your friends!"

"Hi, Rachel! Yeah, I think my transformation is almost complete, I just need to buy a cat and that's it!" Elliott said, smiling.

Rachel laughed. They both sat by the table and after a few minutes, Artie, a girl named Santana, her girlfriend Brittany and Tina joined the table.

"Glad to see you, Kurt! It's been a while." Artie said.

"Hi, Artie! How are you?"

"Fine, and you? How's your husband? Blaine right? Did you receive my email?" He asked smiling.

"Yeah, I did...thanks. And I think he's okay, we divorced a few months ago." Kurt said, smiling apologetically.

"Really? Oh my God! I can't believe it! You two looked like if you were meant to be together like forever! I thought your love story would be my lifetime reference about love at first sight."

Kurt smiled uncomfortably and tried to get away from that topic. "Anyway…may I introduce you to my friend? This is Elliott, he's one of my best friends and my coworker. Elliott this is Artie Abrams, Mercedes' lifetime friend and my friend too. You two met at Rachel's PhD grad party."

"Oh, yeah, a pleasure to meet you again, Elliott." Artie said, taking Elliott's hand.

"Likewise, nice to meet you again, Artie." Elliott said friendly.

"Kurt!" Sam interrupted, arriving to the table. "I haven't seen you in some weeks you're always working, man! Mercedes told me you traveled to Europe a couple of months ago."

"Yeah, I went there to do some work." Kurt lied smiling.

"Really?" Sam asked intrigued. "Where did you go?"

"To…hmmm, France." Kurt lied again.

"La France, la ville de l'amour." Sam said in a very poor French.

"Yeah, I was there for a couple of weeks." Kurt said, evasively looking at Elliott with eyes that screamed _'help me!'._ Elliott didn't get the message, so Kurt said. "Ell, do you want to drink something? Let's go get some drinks, okay?"

"Sure." Elliott replied confused.

They walked away toward the bar. Kurt was trying hard not to look back to the table, he could feel Sam's penetrating gaze all over him. When they were perfectly hidden behind the people near the bar, Elliott asked, "What was that? France? Really?"

"Shut up! I couldn't tell him I went to Italy…you do remember I'm not supposed to know that information, don't you? He's going to believe Mercedes told me."

"But she didn't, you just snooped into their conversation." Elliott said, mocking Kurt.

"I had no choice." Kurt said in self-defense.

"Yeah…right!"

"Okay, maybe I had other options, but I was curious."

"One day you'll have to tell her you overheard that conversation."

"Yeah, someday…by the way, thanks for not giving me away in front of Sam. I owe you another one."

"Anytime."

"Really, Ell! You're a very good friend! You've helped me so many times that I'm starting to lose track."

"No problem. I have a list, and yes, I'm afraid it's getting longer with each passing day."

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine was contemplating whether or not to make the call. His hands were sweating and his heart was beating fast. Finally after giving one last glance to his phone's background picture, he dialed the number.

 _"New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, what can I do for you?"_ A lady asked over the phone.

"Good evening, I mean good morning miss. I was wondering if you could put me in line with Mr. Thomas P. Campbell's office. I don't have the direct line, but my name is Blaine Anderson, I'm the CEO of Anderson & Partners publishing firm in New York City and I would like to talk to him directly if that's possible."

_"Good morning Mr. Anderson! I'm afraid I'm not the right person to help you with that. I'm going to transfer you to Ms. Carter's line, the lady in the administrative offices. I'm sure she'll be able to help you. Hold in line please."_

"Thanks."

_"You're welcome. One moment please."_

Blaine waited in the line for a couple of minutes until someone picked up on the other end.

_"New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Administrative offices. Belinda Carter, what can I do for you?"_

"Ms. Carter, my name is Blaine Anderson, I'm the CEO of Anderson & Partners publishing firm in New York City. I'm calling because I would like to have the opportunity to speak directly with Mr. Thomas Campbell. I'm afraid I'm not able to personally go to the museum at the moment because I'm out of the country attending some business, but it's very important that I speak with him directly…could you help me with that please?"

_"Wait a moment, Mr. Anderson. Let me see what I can do for you…hold in line please."_

Blaine waited again hoping he could reach the museum's director without needing help from his assistant. His plan was private and he didn't want to share it with anyone yet.

_"Mr. Anderson?"_

"Yes?"

_"I just need you to give me some information to confirm your identity so that I can transfer you to Mr. Campbell's office."_

"Sure." Blaine replied, giving the lady some information about him.

_"That's all Mr. Anderson, wait a minute while I transfer you to Mr. Campbell's office, please."_

"Thank you."

Blaine waited once again, but this time the other person in the line picked up quickly.

_"Mr Anderson? I'm Lucy Steel, Mr. Campbell's assistant. I'll transfer you to his private phone immediately."_

"Thank you."

The line made a weird sound and someone new picked up on the other side.

_"Mr. Anderson! My name is Thomas Campbell, my assistant informed me you wanted to talk to me personally. What can I do for you?"_

"Good morning, sir, sorry to disturb you, but I really wanted to talk to you because I would like to give a monetary contribution to the museum."

 _"Really?"_ Thomas asked stunned.

"Yes, it's hard for me to go directly to your office right now because I'm attending some business here in London, but my people can take care of everything. I just wanted to talk to you first, because I need you to tell me what do I need to do, if you accept my proposition or not, and check some details and requests with you, sir."

_"Well, certainly Mr. Anderson we are-"_

"Please, just call me Blaine."

_"Well, Blaine we're always willing to accept any kind of contributions or donations, did you know that the arts are one of the fine arts that gets less monetary donations?"_

"No."

_"Well, it's true. Usually we only receive pieces to exhibit and things like that, so your call has me pleasantly surprised."_

"I'm glad to hear that, but I do have some conditions upon the money I'm willing to donate." Blaine said.

_"Okay, I'm listening…"_

"I want you to use some of that money to start a program to promote local artist around New York City and give them all the tools they need to develop their work; studios, warehouses, equipment, etc. Maybe later if the program works fine we could add some other artist from other cities…but right now just the New York City and the surrounding area."

_"Okay, certainly your idea sounds interesting, maybe we could do something about that."_

"Last year you hosted an exhibition about a local artist around December and I was thinking that the best way to promote this new program is to use the work of that artist. The exhibition was called Chaotic Order by Kurt Hummel." Blaine said.

_"Yes, I remember."_

"Well, I was very impressed with his work and I would like him to be the pioneer of this new program. I think his work needs to be promoted correctly."

_"Certainly he's a very talented artist, but before we start with any details about whether he's the right artist to promote this program or not, we need to establish how much money we are talking about to see if the museum is able to fulfill your requests, Mr. Anderson…I mean Blaine."_

"5 million dollars per year for a period of, let's say 5 years to start?"

_"Oh my God! Really?"_

"Yes, I don't mind the number of exhibitions or how you decide to do them, but I do care that some of the money is used exclusively to promote new and local artists, to give them tools and obviously that you include Mr. Hummel's work. In fact, that's the most important request. I want him to inaugurate and design the program by the end of this year if it's possible."

_"Well, I think we can try to do what you're asking for."_

"Then it's settled. I need you to communicate me with whomever I have to talk to make the donation tomorrow first thing in the morning. In two months, perhaps I'll be back in town so maybe we can schedule a meeting to make this more formal. Meanwhile, Mr. Evans, who is in charge of the company at the moment, can go to your office to sign a partial agreement, if that's okay with you, of course."

_"Perfect! I'll tell my assistant to transfer you to donations, so you can talk with the financial department. I'll schedule a meeting with your people for tomorrow at noon to formalize everything, and when you return to the city I'll be greatly pleased if you accepted an invitation to have a formal dinner with my associates and myself. I'm looking forward to have the pleasure to meet you in person. I'll start working on the program you requested and do the promotion as soon as possible. I want to thank you in advance for your generous donation and I want to assure you that your money will be well used."_

"You're welcome, Mr. Campbell. I'll contact my people the moment I finish talking to the people at donations to coordinate everything. One more thing Mr. Campbell may I ask you something?'"

_"Yes of course. What else can I do for you?'"_

"I need this to be completely confidential. I don't know if you know anything about the personal lives of your employees, but I happen to know Mr. Hummel so I would be thankful if you keep my identity anonymous."

_"Don't worry, I don't usually mix the personal lives of my employees with my work, so there's nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, I'll keep your identity completely confidential."_

"All right, then…see you in a couple of months. Thanks for taking my call and please do me the favor to communicate me with the people who are going to tell me what to do."

_"Perfect, see you in some months…have a nice day, or night for you, Blaine."_

"Thank you, Mr. Campbell, you too."

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt was waiting outside the museum's director office. This was the third time this year that he had been there and that was a new record.

"You can enter now, Kurt." Lucy, Mr. Campbell's assistant, said.

"Thanks."

He entered the huge office and greeted the director who was waiting for him seated on his huge leather couch.

"Hello, Kurt!"

"Hi, Mr. Campbell…how are you?"

"Fine, and you?"

"Fine thanks."

"Well, I call you again because I would like to see the progress that you have for the program I told you about two months ago. You said you needed time and well, the clock is ticking and I need to start promoting it. I'll meet the donor on Friday and I need to give an overview of the program and your exhibition. Remember you're the main request for this thing."

"Yes, I know sir, and I really don't know how to tell you this, but I still don't have a concrete plan about the program or my exhibition. I have several panoramas, and a general brainstorm, but not a definitive idea." Kurt lied. The truth was that he had nothing at all.

"Why Kurt? I gave you everything you needed to work! What's going on?"

"Nothing sir, but you better than anyone know that inspiration is not something we can predict. It just arrives and although I've been working hard on your request, I still can't find the right path that I want to take for this work."

"Well, Kurt I'm afraid that this time I won't be the good and understanding boss. Sorry, but I need you to solve this matter for Friday, do you understand? I have the meeting with the donor at 6pm so you have until noon to give me the documentation we need with the concept, topics, number of exhibitions, and an estimate of the number of your pieces. Remember you'll be hosting the first exhibition by the end of this year."

"But…"

"Nothing, Kurt! You agreed to do this work and I already accepted the money. I'm afraid you have no choice but to prepare something whether you like it or not. We can't let down our donor."

"Sir, but maybe if you allowed me to talk to whomever the donor is, I could persuade him or her that we don't need to have a final theme right now. We could see some of the work of the other artists and start working from there…make a more inclusive theme."

"Sorry, Kurt but no, you can't. The donor requested to remain anonymous and asked for you to open the exhibition and design the program, so we can't work using the ideas of someone else…they must be yours, so you better get to work or you'll be in serious trouble Kurt."

"Okay, sir…you'll have the proposal on Friday morning." Kurt replied grouchy.

"Then start working…I want you locked in your studio until you have the program."

"Yes, sir." Kurt said, standing up.

"Tell Michel you're authorized to stay all day and night in your studio. Also ask him to use someone else to replace you temporarily as the chief of the restoration team. I need you focused on this project."

"Yes, sir." Kurt repeated, leaving the office.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt went to his tiny office and talked to Michel, his direct boss. After he informed him about Mr. Campbell's orders, he picked up his stuff and walked toward his studio. Elliott was waiting for him outside the closed door.

"Hey, Kurt! What happened? Michel told me the boss called you again."

"Yes, he wanted to see the progress for the program and the theme for my exhibition."

"The ones you still don't have? What did you do?"

"I told him I didn't have them and he gave me until Friday at noon to deliver the whole concept, theme, topics, number of exhibitions and the estimate number of paintings and sculptures that I'll use for the first exhibition."

"Crap! What are you gonna do?"

"Maybe cry and then kill myself?"

Elliott rolled his eyes. "You want me to help you?"

"I don't know, Ell. I don't want to cause you any trouble. This mysterious donor clearly stated that the idea for the program had to be mine and the boss is going to be watching me all week, so if he sees you're helping me he's going to kill us both."

"Fair enough, but maybe we can work from your home? That way he wouldn't know I'm helping you."

"Yeah, maybe…but let me try to do it alone first. If I need any help, you'll be the first one to know. Besides, I'm planning on adding a photographic exhibition to all this program, so you'll have to start working on that soon."

"What!?"

"Yes, I thought about it when I was in Mr. Campbell's office. He said I needed to design everything so I'm going to give you a shot. The donor said the thematic and number of the exhibitions didn't matter, the only request was that I designed it, so..."

"Oh my God! Are you serious? If you really do that I'll be indebted to you for life!"

"I owe you enough, Ell...it's the least I can do."

"Thank you, Kurt!"

"You're welcome."

"Are you going to start working right now?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how to start."

Elliott looked at him confused.

"I know that the best way to develop the theme for this program is by painting and creating a whole concept as I did for my last exhibition. But I haven't painted since the whole thing with Blaine happened." Kurt said, as a matter of explanation.

"Really?"

"Yes…I've made some drawings, mostly replicas, but I haven't touched a brush in over half a year. Every time I see an empty canvas my mind pictures him."

"You'll have to channel those feelings to use them as inspiration."

"I don't know if I can. I'm not inspired…I think I lost the muse."

"Why don't you use that lack of inspiration as your new muse?"

"How?"

"I don't know…you're the artist here, but try to start from there, or use him as a your source of inspiration as you did with your last exhibition."

"I don't know if I can, at that time I had a lot of emotions in my heart, but now I feel numb…maybe if I could just see him."

"Why don't you go to his house? Maybe he's back."

"No, he's not back. I heard Sam talking to Mercedes about that."

"When?"

"Yesterday. Sam was telling her that he was sick of work and that he was wishing Blaine was back, but that there was still no date for him to return."

"I'm sorry, Kurt…then try to remember all the good times you two lived and use them for inspiration or-" Elliott bit his tongue.

"Or?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"Okay, but don't get mad at me, okay? I told you this could happen and you said you'd have to learn to live without him so maybe, just maybe." Elliott trailed off, "This is the time you finally turn the page, and you learn to live without him, Kurt. You can use this opportunity to finally free yourself from him and use this exhibition as a farewell to what you two once lived."

Kurt remained silent. He was shocked that his mind was actually considering Elliott's last advice, even when his heart was begging him not to do it.


	15. Chapter 15

Blaine had returned to the city since late July, but had asked Sam to continue lying about his location because he didn't want Kurt to suspect that he was the mysterious donor behind the brand new program at the museum. He had gone to visit his mother to Chicago for a couple of weeks and now he was finally back in his apartment. This week he was supposed to meet the director of the museum and next week he could finally return to his position at Anderson & Partners.

"So, how's Helen?" Sam asked, while they were having lunch together at Blaine's apartment.

"Fine, we went to her doctor's appointment last week and apparently the thing with her lungs is now controlled. The doctor said she could start the new treatment soon."

"Those are great news, Blaine!"

"Yes, I was so scared that the medication wasn't working, but fortunately everything is fine and she'll be with us for a very long time."

"I'm so happy to hear that, for her and for you...did you talk to her?"

"Yes I did." Blaine said, looking at his food. He didn't want to look at his friend or else he was sure the police interrogation would begin.

"And?" Sam asked intrigued.

"Nothing."

"Come on, Blaine! Don't do this to me! Tell me!"

"What?"

"Everything!" Sam demanded.

"Nothing happened!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes. Apparently the police interrogation was going to happen no matter how much he wanted to avoid it.

"Of course something happened, I talked to her a few days ago and she sounds different and you are acting different too...tell me what happened!"

"Seriously, Sam! Nothing happened."

"Blaine don't be like that."

"There's nothing to tell, Sam."

"Of course there is! You just don't want me to know, but it's okay, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want. I mean, I'm your best friend and I've been there for you for almost 24 years now, and I know almost everything about you, but you really don't have to say anything if you don't feel like you can trust me. Don't worry, I understand." Sam said, using his sad voice and that so often rehearsed performance of lowering his gaze completely defeated and sighing loudly to let Blaine know that he was deeply hurt by his lack of trust.

Blaine rolled his eyes. He hated it when Sam did that thing with his voice and his head because he knew he had no choice but to tell him. "I hate when you do that! I hate it! And you know it Sam Evans!" Blaine exclaimed defeated. "What do you want to know? if I asked her to forgive me? Yes I did...happy?"

Sam smiled triumphantly. He better than anyone knew how to make Blaine talk.

"Well, certainly I'm pleased to hear that, but I need more details to consider myself _happy._ "

Blaine rolled his eyes again, but began to tell the story anyways.

"It really was not a big deal. I just told her I needed to talk to her and we sat on the table, and I asked her to listen to the story I was about to tell her and to not say a word until I had finished. We talked and that was it." Blaine said.

"No, Blaine! I want details!" Sam demanded.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!"

"Go on, I'm listening..."

Blaine rolled his eyes again. "Well...I didn't know how to do it, you know I've never been good with that kind of stuff, so I made up a story about a beautiful family that destiny had decided to test by taking away two of its members, and then I confessed her the real problem I had with her and the whole situation."

"Which is?" Sam asked anxiously.

"You already know that."

"No, I don't. It's been a mystery to me. I'm not gonna lie, I have several theories. First, I thought that you were just, let's say... _'projecting'_ the pain you felt for the loss of your father and brother towards her because you needed to have someone to blame for their deaths, but then you sent her alone to Chicago without even blinking! That's when I really started to believe that you truly hated her, but then again, when you talked about her in some events and stuff I could see that somehow you still loved her and I didn't know what to think so, no...I don't know what is or was your real problem with her." Sam confessed.

Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed. "I didn't want to lose her, Sam! I sent her away to learn to live without her. I know it sounds stupid and selfish, but after Coop died, you better than anyone know that I lost control and I saw my life falling apart in front of me. I lost everything and I was scared! No! I was terrified! That's why I sent her away. I thought that by doing that I was making us all a favor, because if she died too I wouldn't be missing her that much...Now I know that perhaps that was the second biggest mistake of my life, but I can't go back in time, so..."

"Oh, Blaine! I'm so sorry, buddy. I know you went through a very hard time when Coop died and I didn't know that you were suffering so much. I tried to respect your pain and gave you time to grieve, that's why I never asked more about it, but if I had known what I know now I would had made you talk back then...we could have save ourselves of a lot of disagreements."

"I know, Sam, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I didn't even understand half the things I'm telling you right now." Blaine said sincerely. "And I just want to thank you man...for everything. You've been there for my family and me since I can recall, and I've never thanked you for what you've done for us, so thanks buddy! You're the greatest friend of all. I love you man, I really do. I don't know what would I be doing without your stupid face in my life."

"I know you love me and you know I love you too, and you have nothing to thank me for...we're brothers and that's what brothers do."

"Brothas from anotha motha yo!" Blaine said, laughing loudly and making a strange gesture with his hand.

Sam started laughing too. "I can't believe you remember that!" He said, repeating the gesture.

Blaine laughed too. "Those were good times."

"They really were...I think our parents really wanted to kill us when we had that rappers' phase during eighth grade. I still have the gold chains we bought."

"You still have them? Oh God! You need to get rid of those things." Blaine said, laughing and remembering those big gold chains with a big B and a even bigger S that they bought and used to wear every single day during almost two months.

"Yeah, one day, but do not try to change the subject...what happened after you asked her to forgive you? What did she say?"

"Nothing, she just cried and then she also asked me to forgive her for being absent when we needed her the most, and we hugged and that was it."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"And, how do you feel?"

"Fine...in peace, I guess. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life so at least I had to fix that part...don't you think?"

"I'm happy you finally did it, Blaine, because you know you could not keep living like that forever. I think one day you'll have to thank a certain someone for helping you get out of that stupid fortress that you called life."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I know, one day I'll do it…how is he?" He asked, as he always did.

"Kurt? Fine, I think he's working like crazy with the request from the _'mysterious'_ donor." Sam said, mocking Blaine.

"I didn't want him to work like crazy, I just wanted to give him the chance to promote his work." Blaine sighed.

"I know, but you of all people know the guy. He's a perfectionist...what else did you expect him to be doing?"

"Yeah, I know. I just hope he doesn't kill himself in the process...when he's working he often forgets to eat or even breathe. A bad habit I have too, but that we used to try not to make when we were together."

"Don't worry, I'm sure my girl is keeping an eye on him...he'll be fine."

"Yeah…did you do what I asked you to?"

"What? Say in front of him that you're still _'out of town'_?"

"Yes…"

"Yes, my friend, I did it last Sunday."

"Okay thanks…I don't want him to suspect that the donor is actually me. After all, the request for him to be the designer of the whole thing is kind of suspicious."

"Yeah, it is suspicious, but only because we know it's you. But don't worry buddy, he always refers to the donor as a she, so I guess he has no clue that it's actually you...though one day you'll have to tell him that too."

"I really hope so…and I certainly do not think so, he doesn't need to know that I gave money to the museum. I don't want him to think that I'm stalking him or worse that I'm actually trying to get close to him using my money. I did what I did just because I want the best for him, that's a secret that I'll take with me to my grave."

Sam rolled his eyes internally. He knew his friend was a lost cause, so he just nodded politely and changed the subject.

"As you wish...hmmm, what are you going to do today?"

"Why?"

"Mercedes has some tickets for a show in a small Broadway theater and she can't go…would you like to go with me? I heard that the play is actually good...it's about a tragic love story."

"A tragic love story? I don't think so, Sam. My love story is tragic enough, so thanks but no...besides, someone could see me."

"You can disguise yourself."

"Thanks Sam, but no. I'm not in the mood for that. I do have some plans for the night, but those are kind of just for me."

Sam looked at him puzzled and asked, already anticipating the answer. "Are they part of your plan to leave Kurt behind?"

"Kind of…"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Okay, as I already told you...Do whatever you want, but I still think you're an idiot and that you're making a big, big mistake!"

"Thanks." Blaine said, standing up from the table and walking to the kitchen to leave the dirty dishes there.

"Blaine?" Sam asked, following him with the rest of the dirty dishes.

"Yes?"

"Earlier you said that the thing with your mom was perhaps the second biggest mistake of your life, I assume that the thing with your brother is something you regret too, but can I ask you what's the number one? What's the biggest mistake of your life?"

"I thought you already knew but...losing Kurt, of course."

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt had been stuck in his studio for three days in a row since he had talked with his boss. He had come and gone from home just to change clothes and to have a couple hours of sleep. It was Wednesday and he was still delayed with the whole program. He had made some progress with the technical things and the logistical arrangements, but in the creative sector he was still completely blank.

"Kurt, I'm off for today…do you want me to stay? I can try to help you if you want." Elliott suggested.

"Hmmm, no…I'm fine, thanks, Ell." Kurt replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…thanks anyway and have a great night!"

"Okay, but tomorrow if you don't have something for the _concept_ I don't care if I get in trouble, I'll help you, okay?"

"Yeah…thanks."

"Okay…then, I'll see you tomorrow." Elliott said, waving goodbye.

"Yeah…bye, Ell!"

"Bye...and by the way, tomorrow we're going to clean this place...it looks like a dumpster!"

Kurt smiled and looked around exhaling in defeat. His new studio was in fact a mess. There were papers all over the place, food scraps, clothes, a couple of empty cups of coffee, and pieces of what once had been paintings.

"I'll take your word."

"Then it's set...see ya!"

"Bye!"

Kurt liked his new studio; it had been a gift from the mysterious donor, and although at first that thought had made him feel uncomfortable, eventually he began to get used to the idea, and now he couldn't deny that the place was useful and was something he was grateful for. When the museum had received the generous donation, the director had ordered to condition five new studios for designers. They had given Kurt the largest one. It was a very large room with high windows that allowed natural lighting and ventilation, leaving all the walls free to hang everything he wanted. He had a couple of desks and everything he needed to work. However, right now he was not thrilled to be there. Everything related to the stupid program and the work he had to deliver for Friday was something he hated. He felt trapped. The studio was like his own little prison all courtesy of the mysterious donor.

"At least it's an expensive prison." He murmured to himself, and very reluctantly picked up another empty canvas.

He knew that the whole concept for the program would come out from one of his paintings, but this new attempt to create something, like all the others he had tried since Monday, had ended up being about the same thing — a pair of bright hazel eyes. He cursed himself and tore the painting as he has done with the others.

"Why, Blaine? Why? Why are you haunting me like this? I know I made a mistake! I swear I tried to fix things, but I couldn't find you! And yes! Maybe Elliott was right and I missed the opportunity to be with you, but you could have also called me! Why didn't you call me, asshole? Why did you give up so easily?" Kurt yelled to the painting. "I know you think that I'm with someone new and to be honest...I fucking hate you for that! I really hate you! After all I did for you, after all we shared, after all we lived...do you really think that I could be with someone else who wasn't you? I thought you knew me better!" He cried out loud, tearing the canvas with a knife, trying to take out his pain and frustration with each stroke.

"And you know why I hate you the most? You know why? Because I can't actually really to hate you. I've tried it, but I can't! I love you. I fucking love you, but this time I really have to forget you! I need to get you out of my head! You're driving me crazy!" He said, falling to the floor completely defeated.

A piece of the now shattered painting fell right next to him. It was a single eye — Blaine's eye. He looked at it with tears in his eyes and said aloud. "I hate you! I hate you and those stupid and beautiful eyes! How am I supposed to forget you? How?"

Kurt grabbed his coat, closed the studio and left the museum running. It was late and he needed to escape from himself, from his still very much alive feelings for Blaine. He ran with no particular direction in mind. He just let his legs take him to wherever they wanted. He had the whole park to try to leave behind the stress. Because of one thing he was certain about...there was no way he could leave Blaine behind any time soon.

o-o-o-o-o

It was late and Blaine had had a very difficult time deciding whether it was right or not to do what he was planning on doing. After a few hours of internal struggle he made up his mind and headed to a very special place. He sat down and began reading a tiny piece of paper. His eyes were full of water, but he was still smiling. His face reflected a lot of emotions, pain, love, loss, hope, sadness...peace.

"Back when everything started, I used to believe that I had full control of my life...that everything was as I wanted it to be, and that I was capable of handling and shaping my own destiny, but then I met you and everything changed." Blaine said out loud. "You reminded me of how fragile life can be and that no one can control its own destiny. You made me see things in a very different way and for that I'll always be grateful. Thanks to you, now I am a better person. I'm not perfect and I'm certainly not aiming to be, but I know I am a better person because of you...You changed me, you gave me a purpose, you made me believe in myself and turned me into a different person. I wish things would have ended up differently between us, but they did not and now I think it's time for me to let you be happy. For months I've been holding on to those little things we shared in hope of finding you again and be together once again...however, that has not been possible and now I have to stop being so selfish...for you, for me, for us." He said. "This is not a goodbye...it's just a until we meet again." He muttered, and pulled out a lighter from his pocket.

His hands trembled a little when he put the flame near the paper and tears started rolling down his cheeks.

"Please forgive me..." He murmured.

The paper he had in his hand started to burn and he fixed his eyes on the beautiful handwriting that was being consumed by the flames. The words, _'with love'_ were now disappearing — it was Kurt's goodbye note.

"I'll always miss you…and love you." Blaine murmured, when the piece of paper disappeared in his hand and the ashes flew straight into the starry sky.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt had stopped running and now he was just walking through the park. His eyes were red and a bit swollen for all the crying, but he was more relaxed than before. He had had some time to think and now he knew what he had to do. He had to give his story with Blaine a closure. What Elliott had told him a couple of days ago made sense. He had to use this new exhibition as a farewell to what he had once lived with Blaine. He didn't want it, but he had to do it. For his own sanity. It had been some months and he knew that probably Blaine had moved on and had completely forgotten about him, so he had to do the same.

He thought for a minute where to start this new plan and remembered the first dinner they had together, the walk along this same park and the stargazing, and he immediately knew where he had to go.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered to himself.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt walked and walked until he finally saw the familiar bench that marked the horizontal path through the woods that led to the secretly hidden stargazing spot that he had shared with Blaine that night. Kurt started walking when he suddenly froze. He blinked several times to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. There was someone in their spot seated on the grass. The man was wearing a red scarf and a black coat.

Kurt gulped. The man looked a lot like Blaine, but it couldn't be him, because as far as Kurt knew he was still out of town.

Kurt blinked again and looked at the stranger one more time. He didn't look like Blaine, the stranger _was_ Blaine. Kurt was sure about it, he knew that man like his own soul and he was there, seated on the ground looking at the sky...and Kurt stopped breathing.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this story. I hope you've liked it!

Blaine didn't see Kurt until the latter was seated beside him. Very quickly, he wiped the tears that were still running down his cheeks and tried to hide his face beneath his scarf. His heart was pounding so hard that he could even hear it in his own ears.

"Hi…" Kurt murmured.

"Hi…" Blaine replied, almost whispering. He had lost his voice.

"You're back." Kurt said, as a matter of fact.

"Yeah…"

"When did you come back?" Kurt asked.

"A couple of days ago." Blaine replied, still looking at the ground.

Kurt frowned confused. He remembered Sam telling Mercedes that Blaine was still out of town...a couple of days ago.

"I thought that-" Kurt trailed off. "Never mind…how have you been?" He asked politely.

"Fine…and you?"

"Fine, thanks."

"How's work?" Blaine asked.

"Pretty intense at the moment…and yours?" Kurt asked back. This conversation was beyond awkward, they surely were past the point of the polite _'how's the weather_ ' conversation, but neither of them knew what else to say.

Blaine smiled slightly. "Same."

"I heard you were out of town dealing with all the transnational cruisers' contract…I thought you said you wouldn't go?"

"Yeah, at the end I decided to go and supervise everything myself."

"Why?"

Blaine shrugged.

They both remained silent. Zillions of unspoken words and feelings were flying between them. Blaine's gaze was fixed to the ground and Kurt's eyes were staring at him intently. Kurt didn't know what to do, just a few minutes ago he had decided to give his story with Blaine a closure and now that he was looking at him that idea seemed impossible. He still loved him and he wanted him back. He knew Blaine had loved him once, but a lot of time had passed, and he wasn't sure if that was still true. The chances that Blaine was not interested anymore were high.

"And…what were you doing here?" Kurt asked a little nervous. He knew that the fact that they had meet again after all this time in this same place was not a coincidence.

"Burying and leaving behind." Blaine breathed out.

Kurt frowned confused. "May I ask, what were you burying and leaving behind?"

"My mistakes." Blaine answered sincerely.

"Hmmm…and why in here?"

Blaine finally looked him in the eyes and turned around as quickly as possible. He was debating whether to tell him the truth or not. In his head the idea sounded good, even romantic, but he was not sure if Kurt would think the same thing once he hear it.

"I wanted to…nothing forget it!" Blaine said.

"What Blaine?" Kurt asked, looking at him with a hint of tenderness. He knew Blaine was not the kind of guy who opened his heart so easily. But he also knew that with the right words Kurt could reach inside that fortress.

"I…hmmm, I just wanted to see if it was true."

"If it was true, what?"

"The…hmmm, the bridge of magpies." Blaine said, looking at the sky.

Kurt was motionless. His heart had skipped several beats and his eyes were looking at Blaine completely stunned.

"Ex-excuse me?" He managed to ask.

"Did you know that today, August 20th,* is the 7th week of the 7th moon in the Chinese calendar? I looked it up." Blaine said, looking quickly at Kurt's eyes and focusing his gaze once again towards the sky.

Kurt couldn't say a word. His heart was pounding loudly, his stomach was full of butterflies and his hands were sweating like crazy. He couldn't believe that Blaine had remembered the stories he had told him about the stars all those months ago, and particularly that story.

"It…is…?" He asked, almost in a whisper. Kurt was still breathless.

"Yes, I know it's silly, but I just wanted to know if Altair and Vega could be together again. I'm afraid I can't remember the names you said that the Chinese people used to call those stars."

Kurt's eyes were wet, but he fought back the tears and whispered tenderly. "Zhinü and Niülang..."

"Those." Blaine said, taking a deep breath.

"And...hmmm, are they together?" Kurt asked, carefully choosing the right words. He didn't want to pressure Blaine.

"I don't think so." Blaine replied, not taking his eyes away from the sky.

"Why not?"

"Because it's too late."

In that moment Kurt didn't know if Blaine was still talking about the stars or about them, so gathering all his courage, he said, "Well, I do think they are together. Because never is too late for those who love each other deeply…do you remember why I liked this story so much? Why it was my favorite?" He asked.

"No…"

"Because for me it's the biggest proof of the power of love. Love always finds a way."

"Even if it's just for one night?"

"Yes! When you love someone it doesn't matter if you're with that person for a couple of minutes, hours, days, months or years, Blaine. Love is not measured by the time you spend with a person, it is measured by the moments that you two share. And those moments, even the smallest ones, will be stored in your heart and mind forever. Love has no time, if the feelings are still there then love is timeless."

"But feelings are not eternal…people die, people change." Blaine said.

"Yes, people die and change, but feelings don't. Feelings just transform and evolve, Blaine. You never stop feeling even if you wish you could, you can't — feelings are eternal. Think about it, you can love someone one day and hate him the next one, and although it's not the same kind of feeling, you're still feeling something for that person. Those kinds of feelings are the ones that just evolve, and there are certain feelings that...hmmm, stay in your heart forever. And even if you try with all your soul to get rid of them, you can't. Those are feelings that will be with you until your last day...in the form of a kiss, a hug, a smile, a tear or even a memory. Think about your dad and brother and you'll see that what I'm saying is nothing but the truth...you still love them despite the fact that they are not here anymore, don't you?"

Blaine's eyes filled with tears. Of course he loved them and he knew that Kurt was right. There were feelings that didn't change, and ironically what he felt for him was exactly that kind of feelings. He knew he would love him forever.

Kurt looked at him and saw the tears in his eyes. Worried, he took his hand and apologized. "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have mentioned your family...Are you alright?"

Blaine's expression changed. He looked at their now intertwined hands and panicked. Kurt followed his gaze and saw why Blaine looked more scared than hurt. He was wearing a ring on _that_ certain finger.

"Oh my God! Did you...did you marry again?" Kurt asked stunned.

Blaine quickly removed his hand from Kurt's and hid the ring completely embarrassed. Kurt looked down, his heart was completely broken for the second time. He knew now that Blaine was right, they were not together, it was really too late for them.

o-o-o-o-o

After several minutes that actually felt like hours for both of them, Blaine spoke again. His voice was weak and sounded somehow embarrassed. "I…I-I didn't marry again." He said, removing his ring and placing it on Kurt's thigh.

Kurt looked at the ring and the familiar B and K gave him relief. It was their wedding ring and somehow this was the ray of hope that Kurt had been waiting for.

"I just..." Blaine trailed off, trying to explain himself. "I-I never really took it off from my finger." He confessed.

"Why not?" Kurt asked, looking at him coyly. He wanted to tell him so many things, but he didn't know how.

"I don't know. I guess I didn't want to meet someone new…I didn't need it. If I ever consider getting married again I would only do it with one person." Blaine said, looking at Kurt straight in the eyes.

"Blaine, I…"

"Don't worry, Kurt." Blaine interrupted. "I know you're now with someone new and I'm truly happy for you. I never really appreciated what we had until I lost it, but I'm happy that you've found someone who treats you like you deserve, you're a great man and you deserve to have someone who's-" Blaine was saying when Kurt interrupted.

"Can you please shut up?" He said.

Blaine bit his tongue and looked at him stunned.

"You didn't lose me, okay? We both lost each other. What happened between us was both our faults and believe me or not, I'm not with someone new, Blaine! I haven't been with anyone since we divorced." Kurt said.

"But…"

"Yes, I know you saw me with someone at the exhibition…but the guy with the flowers was Noah, Finn's best friend. He brought me those flowers because those were my brother's favorites...and don't worry, Sam didn't tell me anything, I heard him talking about that with Mercedes."

"Sam knew?"

"Yes, it's hard to explain, but one day Mercedes and Sam talked at the loft about us and what had happened between us. They shared both sides of the story, Mercedes told Sam everything she knew about me, and Sam did the same about you."

Blaine's eyes were wide open and all the color had drained from his cheeks. He was suddenly very afraid of what Sam could have said and Kurt knew it, so he continued talking for Blaine's sake. "Don't worry Blaine, he respected your family story, he just talked about your...hmmm, your feelings for me and about what had happened between us. Anyway, they thought I was not there, so Mercedes made Sam promise he wouldn't tell you anything…and Sam did the same with her, though I had already heard it all so that part of the promise was pointless."

Blaine was speechless. His mind was trying to process everything Kurt had just said.

"I tried to find you, I traveled to Italy but-"

"You went there?" Blaine asked stunned.

"Yes…during the conversation Sam confessed you weren't in the country and when Mercedes asked him where you were, he said something about Barcelona, but then he also said something about you heading to Italy in a couple days, so I went there instead." Kurt confessed. His cheeks had turned a shade of pink.

"Why?" Blaine asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes. _Could this man be any more blind?_

"Isn't it obvious? Because I loved you." He said.

"You-you loved me?" Blaine asked, doubtfully.

"No I didn't!" Kurt said. "I'm afraid I can't speak in past tense because I still love you." He confessed, smiling softly. His heart felt relieved to finally have said those words out loud.

Blaine smiled back shyly and tears ran down his face. This was too much for him. "Why, Kurt? I'm a selfish human being with trust issues who doesn't know how to love…I'm a complete mess, Kurt! I'm broken!" He said between tears.

"No, you're not. You trusted me and I know that I can fix you…and you do know how to love. I can see it in your eyes right now." Kurt said, moving closer to him and putting his arm around Blaine's neck.

"Why? Why did you fall in love with someone like me?"

"I didn't fall in love with you…" Kurt replied sincerely, and quoting a book he had recently read he added. " _I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way_ …I knew who you were and I loved you for that. I won't deny that there were times I really wanted to punch you hard in the face, but most of the time all I wanted to do was to shut up that stupid mouth of yours with a kiss. You allowed me to be part of your life, you told me your deepest secrets and from that moment on I knew you were all I ever wanted. I knew I would never be able to be away from you…you brought chaos to my orderly life." Kurt said. "Forgive me for having signed those damn papers without waiting for you, but I thought you had just used me and Larry said that you had sent him, and I felt betrayed and I was stupid and-"

Blaine leaned closer and silenced Kurt with an effective kiss. Kurt smiled hugging him tightly and kissed him back.

"I love you." Blaine whispered for the first time.

"I know you do...and I love you too." Kurt said, wiping the tears that, inexplicably, kept falling down from Blaine's eyes.

They kissed again, this time with more passion. Their souls were reconnecting and everything was in its place again, as it always should have been.

o-o-o-o-o

"Can I ask you something?" Blaine murmured, lifting his head from Kurt's chest. They were lying on the grass embracing each other.

"Yes." Kurt whispered, still playing with Blaine's hair.

"At your exhibition…the…hmmm, missing painting in the main piece was the one you gave me?"

Kurt smiled broadly and rolling his eyes, he asked, "How do you know that there was a missing painting in that piece? I never had the chance to give you the tour...you ran away."

Blaine laughed. "I heard a girl talking to her friends…she was at your opening tour and she explained what you have said about that particular piece. She said you had mentioned that only one person besides you could understand the whole picture."

"And what do you think?"

"Honestly?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded. "At the beginning I thought it might be me, but then…I don't know. Maybe I read a lot into it."

"You didn't read a lot into it because if you had done that, you would have known for sure that it was all about you…didn't you read the small inscription I wrote for you inspired by your actual description of the painting I gave you?"

"Well I did, but I didn't think it was about me…I mean, I wanted to believe it but-"

"Really, Blaine…I think almost everybody at that exhibition could see that everything was about you. Luisa, Matt's wife, even told me something about it."

"Was she there?"

"Yes, I invited her."

"I'm sorry, I am very dumb in all these love things. I'm not very good at getting messages…but you already know that."

"Yes, I know."

"Well, I guess now you can finally complete that piece."

"No, I don't want to do that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's already complete…that was the main idea of that painting. It was meant only for us to understand it…no one else in the world has to understand what I feel for you…what you mean in my life."

"And what do I mean in your life?" Blaine asked, a coyly smile was taking shape in the corner of his lips.

Kurt rolled his eyes and slapped Blaine's head playfully.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"For asking the obvious, silly."

"It's not obvious for me...I really want to know."

Kurt rolled his eyes again, but replied sincerely. "Everything."

Blaine smiled warmly. "You want to see something?" He asked.

"Yes."

Blaine pulled out his phone from his pocket and showed Kurt his phone's background image.

"That's my painting…I mean your painting!" He exclaimed excited.

"Yes, I took that picture before I left…it has been my phone's display image ever since. When you left, I used to stare at that painting for hours. It helped me relive what we had lived, the good and the bad, so when I decided to go to Europe I thought about taking it with me, but I was afraid that someone could steal it or ruin it, so I just take it with me in a different way." He confessed, smiling at the picture.

"That's sweet." Kurt said smiling warmly.

"No! That's cheesy…what did you do to me?" Blaine said, laughing with relief for the very first time in so many months.

"I fixed you." Kurt murmured.

"Yes, you did…I love you."

A single tear escaped from Kurt's eyes and Blaine looked at him worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…it's just that I thought I'd never hear you say those words…and I love to hear you saying them because I love you too."

"I.Love.You!" Blaine said again, making sure that this time he was kissing Kurt while he repeated them, putting into that kiss all his love.

o-o-o-o-o

"You know? This place is very special for me." Blaine said, pointing to the grass and the trees surrounding them. It was very dark and they hadn't moved in at least two hours, they only knew it was past midnight because the bells of some church had rung almost half an hour ago.

"Why?" Kurt asked.

"Because that day when you told me about the stars and we had that amazing dinner, was the first time that I started to see you in a different way. That day you started to bring down my walls."

"Really?"

"Yes…I know we met at the party, but I like to think that we actually met right here. I know it's stupid, but that day it was the first time I really saw you. You made me do things I never thought I would be doing, like sitting in this same place, for example."

"Really?"

"Yes, if you had known me before that day, you'd probably have known that I was not in the habit of doing that kind of stuff."

"So eating at a common restaurant, sitting at a random spot in Central Park and walking at night around the city without using your beloved car was completely off of the Blaine Anderson's menu?"

"Completely off...but I think that in a way my soul knew something that my mind and body didn't know yet. It knew that you would be the one to save me, that our lives were meant to be just one, that you'd be the man I'd love and hold...fearlessly and forever, which is why it never really felt like I was getting to know you, it always felt like if I was remembering you from somewhere. As if in every lifetime that you and I have lived, we'd chosen to come back and find each other and fall in love all over again, over and over for all the eternity..."

"Blaine..."

"Wait, let me finish please...a few hours ago I was determined to leave you behind. To leave our story behind. I didn't want it, but I knew I had to do it. For you and for me and...I just feel so lucky that you have found me again, that we're together again, because all I want to do, all I've ever wanted to do is spend my life loving you…so Kurt Hummel, my amazing friend, my one true love, will you marry me...again?" Blaine suddenly asked.

Kurt's shock was evident, but instead of answering he burst out laughing loudly.

"What's so funny? I'm serious here." Blaine asked, sounding a little wounded.

"Nothing…I'm sorry. I know you are, it's just that…I never told you this, but Artie, the guy from the party; he emailed me some photos and videos from our wedding and it's funny that you're repeating almost the same words you told me that day."

"There are photos and videos? How? When? Never mind...I know it sounds weird, but I guess I knew since that day that it was you the only one for me…so what's your answer? Will you marry me again? I'm dying here!"

"Yeah, yeah...of course I will! Nothing in this world would make me happier than to be your husband again…forever." Kurt said smiling.

Blaine kissed him again and they embraced tightly under the starry sky. After some minutes Blaine suddenly burst into laugh too.

"Did I miss the joke now?" Kurt asked.

"It's not a joke, it's more like a revelation."

"Of what?"

"Of everything…the last few years I've been trying to avoid any kind of personal attachment, and suddenly life decided to give me what I was certainly not asking, but desperately needing."

"What?"

"Love." Blaine replied, smiling warmly.

"Oh, _honey!_ Now I do believe you're being really cheesy!" Kurt said, mocking him.

Blaine laughed uncontrollably and kissed him again. Between sweet touches and kisses something changed in the atmosphere surrounding them. It was as if somehow nature knew what was happening, what was witnessing. The reunion of two kindred souls, the commitment of two boys who were destined to find each other even in the darkest of times. All of the stars were witnessing a kiss that not only marked the beginning of a new life full of love, but also the rewriting of a very unexpected love story. Their love story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *August 20th (2015) is the actual 7th moon of the 7th month in the Chinese calendar. The festivity is known as the Qixi festival (Valentine's day for them).
> 
> PS: You can find a rebloggable (tumblr) version of this story [here.](http://msalexiscriss.tumblr.com/tagged/alexis%20writes)


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